BioPattern Rose
by ForbiddenDreams13
Summary: AU:Botan is a labtech at Libra, working there after her mother's death. One day, she wanders down an unused hallway not noticing the broken lock on the door. There she meets Kurama:a demon and test subject abducted during Project Phoenix ten years ago.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey readers! I am, as of now, secretly on my mom's computer, and I may not have much time. I will be doing this fic side by side with my RKxVK crossover, so I beg of you be patient!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, or any of the characters. If I did I would be an x-something year old Japanese guy, but I am a 16 year old American girl, so yeah.**

**Author's Notes: As stated in summary, the setting is AU, so pasts may/will be altered. Read, enjoy, and please review.**

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_What is this place?_

_A cage._

_Is it the kind that has bars? Like an animal cage?_

_No. It is a different sort of 'cage'._

_Is it locked?_

_You could say that._

_Why am I in a cage?_

_Because you need to be_

_Am I bad? Did I do something wrong?_

_No. It is nothing you have done. It does have to do, however with what you are._

_And what is that?_

_You are a…_

Shadows swallowed the voices. Far off into the blackness of the abyss the small sound of a water droplet hitting a hard surface was heard. A chill bit deep into her body with pointed teeth. Where was she? Moreover, who…

"Did those voices belong-huh?"

Botan sat up in bed, blinking sleep and confusion out of her eyes as she surveyed her room. Off in the far corner from her bed which sat up against the north wall was a corner desk, complete with a swivel chair. On the opposite wall was a white dresser, atop that a stereo, and to the left of her bed a small closet. A bright and cheery room. No shadows, no far off sound of dripping water and no disembodied voices. She continued to wonder about her dream, for another minute before brushing it off as a side effect of the curry she'd eaten the night before. Yawning, she stretched, and swung her feet out of bed, and onto the carpet.

Five minutes later, Botan stood at the sink in her bathroom, dressed properly in her uniform, splashing water on her face to help herself wake up better, and hopefully add some vitality to it. Once again, she yawned, turned off the water faucet, and then jogged downstairs to grab her schoolbag in the kitchen. On her way through the living room, she stopped to glance at a small shelf situated to the left of the large bay window that looked into the house. Placed between a bouquet of peonies in a glass vase, and a bottle of incense was a picture of her mother and father. Her father had passed on when she was young, and her mother had died in a tragic accident ten months ago when her car skidded on a patch of black ice, causing her to slam violently into the guardrail. Now, the house she had lived in with her parents held a single occupant, but she was not one to be put down by grief. Since the night of the accident, she had become more independent, and she'd improved her culinary skills by leaps and bounds. No longer was the sound of the smoke alarm treated as typical 'dinner music'. Smiling at the memory of her first run in with deep fried tofu, Botan glanced at the clock sitting on top of the television.

"Ack! 7:45! No time for breakfast!"

With that, she raced into the kitchen, grabbed her bag from off the table, spun around, and ran for the front door, skidding to a stop before the obstacle could smack her in the face.

"Well, I'm off!"

There was a jingle in her jacket pocket as she produced a set of house keys, and unlocked the door. A cool spring morning breeze hit her full force, and she was glad she'd put on a lightweight jacket. It would tide her over until it warmed up in the afternoon. The second jingle of the morning was heard as the front door shut, and the keys once more turned in the lock. Once the keys were back in her pocket, Botan turned, and began running for school.

* * *

An exhausted Botan flopped down in her desk at exactly ten minutes to eight. Considering the fact that the distance from home to school was normally twenty five minutes, she decided she'd earned herself a gold star for the morning…and a nice bottle of water.

"Morning Botan!"

Still panting, the bluenette meekly raised her head. Keiko Yukimura, the class president was bent down over Botan's desk, smiling.

"Morning. Yeesh, I'm tired."

Keiko chuckled.

"I would say so. You practically ran a marathon to get here."

Botan weakly flexed a raised fist.

"Nike!"

The two girls laughed. Across the classroom, Yusuke Urameshi, and Kazuma Kuwabara were getting into some sort of heated debate.

"You don't just run up and randomly ask a girl that!"

"Well maybe _you _don't dipstick, but if I see a girl who's skinny as a rail with a double d rack, of course I'm gonna ask her if they're implants!"

It was at this time Yusuke's face met a flying pencil bag. After spouting off a few expletives, he began to look for the homing point of the offensive object. Of course when he found it, he instantly thought twice about the smart remark sitting on his tongue. Keiko was now standing straight up, angrily tapping her foot, and without so much as a word strode over to Yusuke, and yanked on his ear.

"Ow! What the-"

"I thought I told you to keep that mouth in check! Honestly, you can be so brainless!"

"Hey, it's not my fault that-"

"That you've only got enough blood to operate one head at a time Urameshi?"

"Shut up Kuwabara! Ow! Keiko let go of my ear that hurts!"

Botan giggled as she watched what she had deemed 'The Typical Morning Theater' in which Yusuke always made some smart comment, Keiko nearly yanked his ear off, and Kuwabara poked fun at Yusuke the entire time. By now, Keiko had let go of the poor boy's ear, and said boy was aiming threats at a not so scared friend.

"I swear if you don't shut up, I'll mess your head up so bad, you'll be locked in a padded cell talking to your voices for a whole year!"

Voices. Ah yes, the voices of her dream. Botan put her chin in her hand as she reflected on it. There had been two of them as she recalled; the voice of a little boy, and an older more masculine voice of a man sounding in his late teens or early twenties. They had been talking about a cage. What cage? Where was this cage? And what did the older voice mean by 'You could sort of say' that it was locked? Why was the little boy even in the cage? The older voice had said it had had to do with something the boy was, but what exactly? The voices had faded before she could have made anything out.

"Earth to Botan! Your hair's on fire!"

"Huh? What?"

Yusuke rolled his eyes.

"If you're gonna sit there, and space out on us, you could give us some kind of heads up. Keiko was asking you a question."

"Oh. Sorry. What was it Keiko?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to go see a movie with the three of us tonight. Maybe it'll give you a chance to talk to that cute guy who always works at the food counter."

"Wha? Keiko!"

Now it was Kuwabara's turn for an eye roll."

"Come on Botan, you practically drooled over him the last time we were there, just go up and ask him for his phone number."

"Like it's that simple! And sorry Keiko, I'd love to go, but I have to go to work tonight, and they'll probably have me pulling a late shift"

"Oh yeah, you work at Libra don't you?"

"Libra?"

Botan opened her mouth, but was cut off by the ringing of the school bell. The sound of shuffling footsteps, and ruffling pages resounded throughout the room. A few seconds later, following a few straggling students was the homeroom teacher, Mr. Yota. His piercing predator's eyes watched the students both entering, and in the classroom hurrying to their seats.

"Did none of you hear the bell? Come on now kids; let's practice punctuality a bit shall we? Now, open your history books to page 85 and we'll begin today's lesson."

The rest of the morning passed by in an uneventful, semi-colorful blur. As Botan sat in her math class, copying down the formulas written down on the blackboard, she found her lap suddenly holding a low flying paper airplane. Glancing around behind her, she saw Yusuke looking at her intently. Botan sighed, and turned back around, unfolding the paper airplane beneath her desk. The moment the instructor's back was turned, Botan's head went down to read the message inscribed:

_What the heck is Libra?_

Really? He couldn't have waited until later? The paper made a few crackling noises as Botan's fist crushed it into a ball. Botan craned her head back, found Yusuke, and mouthed the word 'lunch', knowing full well she wouldn't be able to send to airplane back without getting caught. Yusuke raised an eyebrow, to which she silently replied 'Later.'

"Miss Botan, would you kindly tell us what has captured your attention at the back of the classroom?"

Crap! Twin magenta fires shot Yusuke a glare, and then put themselves out as their owner turned around in her seat.

"Oh, I just thought I saw something...odd…you know…"

"Well, focus your attention up here; the only odd things you should be seeing are numbers."

Oh yeah, she was definitely going to get Yusuke for this come lunch. _Speaking of which…_ She thought as her gaze wandered up to the clock at the front of the room. 11:44, with only 50 seconds to go before the lunch bell.

"And if you substitute x for this number here…"

45 seconds…

"Once that's done dive by two, and you'll end up with the correct answer. Note how all the answers to the practice problem here are whole numbers. I should not see any decimals on the upcoming test."

20 seconds…

"And I think that's all we have for today, if you'll just go home and study, you should ace this checkpoint exam."

Bing! Her hands took wing as she quickly shoved books and notebooks back into her school bag, and shut it tight, and in one simple fluid motion, she was up out of her desk, and waiting with Yusuke and Kuwabara by the door for Keiko to put her last notebook up. Once said task was done, and everyone accounted for, the four went down to the cafeteria.

* * *

"Honestly Yusuke, did you have to ask me right in the middle of class?"

Botan growled, slamming her tray down on the table. A couple students from a nearby table looked up, but seeing nothing worth watching, went back to their food. Yusuke rolled his eyes, pausing before replying to open a milk carton, and take a small swig.

"Oh c'mon, I didn't yell it out in the middle of class did I?"

"Yell what out Yusuke?"

"No, but it was still a distraction!"

"You get mad at some of the smallest things."

"Getting my butt chewed in class because of your stupidity is not a small thing, thank you!"

"Botan, and Yusuke, if you two are done arguing, I want to know what's going on."

"Same here Urameshi."

Yusuke was about to reply, but Botan, having been placed atop her soapbox, cut him off.

"I'm sitting in class, paying strict attention, like I'm _supposed to, _when he," Botan pointed an accusing finger at Yusuke. "Tosses an airplane into my lap, asking me to tell him what Libra is. And I would have gladly done so when we were out of the classroom, but no!"

Keiko cocked an eyebrow.

"Well, what _is _Libra, Botan? You've only mentioned the name, but it has to be a pretty important place if they've got you working there almost twenty-four seven."

Botan quirked an eyebrow at her best friend. She thought she'd explained this before, but of course she was so scatterbrained at times, the thought of informing Keiko about her current and future work place must have slipped her mind.

"Libra is a lab just on the outskirts of town. It's situated on top of a small hill, so you have to wind your way through various twists and turns on the main road in order to get there. They specialize mostly in medical and field research. It's a quiet place, and they've been operating for a while now. My boss, Koenma, his father started the lab in hopes that he and his colleagues, through their studies at their graduating university could find a way to perfect the human body."

Yusuke huffed over his straw.

"That sounds like science fiction to me."

Keiko chuckled.

"They said that when the idea that man could travel into space was first proposed."

It seemed that Kuwabara was highly interested. He had hung on to every word Botan had said while she explained to Yusuke and Keiko about where she worked.

"What did this guy mean by 'perfect the human body'?"

"By 'perfect', he meant that the aging process would be incredibly slowed or stopped altogether entirely, that the immune system would be strong enough to fight off any disease, and that each new generation produced would be stronger than their parents."

Keiko both figuratively and literally chewed over Botan's explanation as she took a bite of her ikameshi.

"But if the aging process were to be stopped completely, then the earth would become overcrowded."

"That's why the more sought after is the slowing of the aging process. Speaking of which, when I was little, there was this whole project that involved almost everyone at the entire lab. In fact, if I remember correctly, that wasn't too long after my mom had started working there."

"What kind of project?"

Botan shrugged, chewing a bit on her salmon roll.

"I don't know. I asked my mom, and all she said was that the lab was searching for 'really special people.' I think she meant people of peak physical condition they could test, and obtain data from."

The buzz of cafeteria chatter continued on in the background, rising and falling in pitch like a song melody. The conversation soon shifted when some boy a few tables down was heard bragging that he could fit a whole apple into his mouth without having to chew it. Bets were made between the four, Keiko and Botan winning when the boy had to be escorted to the nurse's office when the apple became stuck, and he could not get it in further nor remove it. Ten minutes later the bell rang, and getting out of the cafeteria became like trying to get through the Paris Underground. After bumping into five people, grabbing onto Keiko so she would not be lost, and squeezing through a gap that a cat couldn't even fit through, she walked into class with only two minutes to the bell, dream entirely forgotten

* * *

The lab assistant set the tray of food down on the table on the balcony, overlooking the wide expanse of hills out back of the lab.

"Good afternoon. Are you feeling well?"

The boy did not look at the assistant; instead he continued to sit in the wrought iron chair, with one hand on the red cushion beneath him, and one leg up on the railing.

"Yes, I am. Thank you for bringing in the food."

The assistant stepped back and nodded. He had short black hair that framed his face, and brown eyes that had an honest look to them even behind his glasses. He smiled. The boy was always polite; he wasn't like some of the others here, who had to have their food shoved through a small gap underneath the door. Although those the assistant could tolerate. It was the few that did nothing but stare at him when he walked into the room, eyeing him as if he was their lunch, and not what was on the tray. It made him feel uncomfortable, being stared at with eyes that were in unnatural colors of red, purple, or silver. The boy's eyes however were green, and he was always pleasant, even if he barely said anything. He was the only one the assistant could get close enough to so he could question how he was doing.

"You're welcome, but this is just simply a part of my job, you don't have to thank me. After all, someone must bring food to those here."

The boy continues to study the landscape with those emerald eyes. A light wind kicked up, smelling slightly of the town lying just a few miles away. Scarlet danced in the breeze, brushing the boy's face, and falling still when the wind had lain down.

"I suppose so."

"I'll be back later with the test results from yesterday, until then enjoy the food."

"Yes."

The assistant turned around, and walked through the open plated glass door into a large room with multiple bookshelves, each filled with volumes ranging in thickness to six inches to half on an inch. On the other side if the room was a bare wall with a door leading to a small bathroom, and in the center pushed up against the far-east wall was a simple bed with crisp white sheets. He looked about the room before coming to the one door leading out. It was more furnished then any of the other rooms in this corridor. Was it possible because of the boy's discipline? Or the fact that he was always polite with the lab workers? Shielding his eyes as the blinding light of the fluorescents on the hallway hit him; the assistant quietly closed the door behind him, and looked at the doors on his left and right. No it wasn't because they boy was well disciplined, nor was it because he was kind with the other assistants and technicians he thought as his eyes scanned over the doors. On every single one there was a large lock hanging between the edge of the door and the adjacent wall. It was because he never wanted out of his cage.

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**I hope you all liked it! And for those waiting for my RKxVK it is in progress. Reviews, and ****suggestions are welcome. Oh, and cookies.**** ^_^**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey there readers! Sorry it's taken me so long to update. However, I am back and ready to attack this with veracity never before seen! Well…maybe not. I don't think attacking this fic would be a good idea. **

**Disclaimer: Nope, I still don't own it.**

**Author's Notes: Since everyone, save for Kurama, is human in this story I thought that I should disclose some of the ages I'll be placing the characters at to avoid confusion. Botan: 16, Yusuke: 16. Keiko: 16, Kuwabara: 16, Kurama: 16, Koenma: 25, Koenma's father, Enma: 48, Toguro (younger): 43, Karasu: 32. (These two will be included in later chapters)**

**And now…**

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"Oh no, I'm running late!"

Pink eyes widened as they glanced at the clock. 3:45; there was no way she'd be at work in fifteen minutes. Botan slammed her chemistry book shut, leapt up from the kitchen table, and quickly laced on her tennis shoes. Her lab coat sprung off the coat rack and onto her body, covering the t-shirt and jeans she'd changed into after she had gotten home from school. Once again, keys delved into the lock on the door as the blue haired girl now stood outside, and locked the door.

Bequeathed to her in the driveway; a gift from her relatives after starting her job at Libra was a dependable 1993 Mercury Tracer; it wasn't flashy, but it would get her to where she needed to go, and for that she was thankful. Especially when her job was located on the very edge of town, and there was no way she'd be able to find a bus to take her that far. She climbed in, shutting the door behind her as she started the car. A few sputtering sounds met her ears.

"Please don't die on me. Not today, please not today."

As if hearing her request, the car roared to life. Botan cheered, then backed out of the driveway, and sped off to work.

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He blinked as he sat up in bed, looking around the large room, attentive for any slight sound that might have awoken him. The silence was not stirred; nothing had happened while he had slept. Strange. What on Earth could have awoken him so abruptly? A sigh snaked between the silences of the everlasting minutes. Oh well, it was probably nothing. Sheets engulfed the boy as green eyes closed themselves. Nothing had happened; time to go back to sleep.

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Quick feet zipped through the hallways, their owner taking a few seconds to greet her coworkers, or halt just in time to avoid a head on collision. Up ahead was one of the main lab rooms throughout the facility, and in that room, she would find her boss. A clock in the hallway proclaimed the time as 4:15. A quick right turn, ten more steps, and she glided into the room, stopping behind her boss.

The lab room around her was fairly open, the door being the only obstacle to the snooping eye. As was to be expected, everything, save for the door frames was the typical white of a lab or hospital. Koenma had his back to her, dressed in a lab coat as all of them were, and was talking with an assistant, going over the paper he had in his hands.

"Hmm, accelerated growth of white count; average reaction time of 0.08 seconds, and vision of 20/10 in both eyes. Stunning, simply stunning; by far, I would have to say that's he's our best test subject yet. I'd like to try to inject him with that serum we developed a week ago, I'd love to see his combat abilities. Oh, hello Botan."

Both turned to bid hello to the cheery tech standing behind them. She smiled at the two of them. Hiro, the assistant, glanced down at his watch, black hair sweeping down his face as he did so.

"Botan? It's 4:15."

Ah Hiro; he meant well she knew, but she could have done without him pointing out the obvious. Now Koenma was giving her a scrutinizing look. Yay… Trying her best to laugh it off and avoid a scolding, Botan smiled.

"Well, you know…I got too into my homework, and forgot to look at the clock. It happens right?"

Koenma shook his head, but luckily, her superior was smiling. Amber eyes sparkled with amusement.

"Ah yes, being a high school student can be a little demanding. That's the one thing I don't miss: The load of homework that my teachers would dump on me each an every night."

Okay, he wasn't scolding her; she was in the clear. They conversed on a few bland topics for five minutes before Hiro was called over by Miaka, a lab worker twenty years Botan's senior. Apparently the copy machine was broken. Again. It wasn't the first time that Botan had noticed the oddity of a facility, filled with some of the best brains in medicinal science, could be confused by the simplicity of a copier jamming. But then again, she barely knew how to work the thing either, so who was she to judge? Koenma shook his head as Miaka drug poor Hiro off down the hall, chuckling as Hiro had to jog to keep the older woman from pulling his right arm off. A small stack of two or three papers was placed under Botan's nose as Koenma spoke to her:

"Botan, would you mind dropping these off in my office so I can review, and hopefully if I get the time, fax them later?"

The papers made a quick transfer of hands from young man to young girl. Her delicate hands folded around the important documents, fingers covering up some of the print; after all, this was information for no ordinary eye, not even she was allowed to peek. Botan smiled, candy eyes sparkling with her usual pep.

"Sure thing Koenma! Do you need anything else delivered to your office?"

"No, but after you're done, there are colonies of a bacterium being monitored in room 32-B in the west wing. I'd like you to stop by and take a look at them and mark any change. There's a chart sitting beside the sealed container they're being kept in."

Botan nodded and spun on her heel, trotting out the door, and into the main stream of workers. All around her was the buzz of the general work day. The results of one person's research, what the kids were doing at home, and a various mixture. Late afternoon sun gleamed through a window to her left as she traversed the white hallways, and zipped upstairs, making a right at the top of the column. Her eyes sought the little horizontal sign sticking out from the door that proclaimed one of the rooms to be Koenma's office. Botan soon found it; it was easy to spot with it being the only door with a wood finish rather than a coat of gray. In all reality, this was the office of Koenma's father, Enma Sr. Koenma was the assistant director; however when his father's heart condition worsened, Koenma had had to take over his father's position until he hopefully made a recovery. When the announcement was made that Enma would be moving into the hospital, the whole lab had felt it, including Botan, who at that time, had only been working at Libra for about a month. The powerful man who had founded the lab, the brains of the operation so to speak, was now gone, and the one who had felt the emptiest of all that day had been Koenma.

Normally an optimistic person like Botan, the way he had looked that day had been a startling to contrast to his usual demeanor. A cloud of sadness had hung over the young man, washing out his face with heavy rains, and tearing through his soul with cold, hallowing gales. The door squeaked a little as Botan swung it back on its hinges, revealing a medium sized room complete with white walls, dark green carpet, a sturdy oak desk, a green high backed chair, and two bookshelves flanking each side of the room complete with their own set of books, papers, etc. Botan walked behind the desk, setting the papers down front and center, pausing a moment to look at the various objects placed about. In the upper right, framed within was a picture of Koenma and his father, taken when the former was but eight. A ghost of a smile hung on the high school girl's lips as she remembered how fond Koenma was of telling the story of the photo, taken so well by another fisherman, who had been more than happy to hold the camera as little Koenma had proudly presented to his father the first fish he had ever caught.

Below the picture was a stack of documents; no doubt ranging from bills to forms, to other lab results. A few ballpoint pens lay next to the stack of around twenty-something papers. On the left sat a flat screen computer flanked by various other papers scattered helter-skelter over the left side of the desk. She took a minute to straighten them out, forming them into yet another neat stack. Poor Koenma; Botan truly had no idea how he did it. She could barely stomach having homework in more than two subjects. As soon as the papers lay neatly on the desk, she went to turn away, but not before a string of sentences caught her eye:

_Results of combat test for subject #0013:_

_Subject is very agile, and can swiftly take down its opponents. Subject 0013 can exert pressure of up to 154lbs, and has a force punch of 30.8. However, it has a very disturbingly quality of going berserk. Hardly any of us can get near the subject without it going into frenzy; we had to use sedative just to get him out of his cage._

Cage… The word stirred something in her. There was something familiar about the way the word was being used. It was hard to put her finger on what. Her eyes continued to move as she kept on reading.

_Subject 0013 is becoming hard to work with. It is questionable whether or not 0013 should be terminated…_

The passage continued on, but Botan had no heart for reading. Terminated? As in killed? A tiny shudder went through her, chilling her body. There was no way the lab would kill its test subjects. Libra was the pursuit for life. Its studies in medicinal science were completely geared toward extending every natural benefit of the human populace. Involuntarily, her eyes jumped back to the page, and quickly scanned over the title, trying to avoid being tempted into reading the entire lab report.

At the top of the page, in bold letters, were the words 'Phoenix Project Case 0013'.

Phoenix Project? Why did that sound familiar? Once again, she looked at the paper sitting atop the stack, looking for some kind of date that would indicate when this experiment had taken place. Near the bottom, written in a lovely flowing script was the date: 16/8/09. Eight months ago. Her mother had been alive when this had taken place. Was it possible that her mother had also participated in this project? Blue locks whipped back and forth vigorously as Botan shook her head to clear it of questions. Glancing at her wristwatch, she saw the second hand twitching past the thirty-five minute mark. The time was 4:30. Great, she'd just wasted ten minutes( not counting the five minutes it took for her to get here) standing around staring at papers on her boss's desk. Papers she really had no business looking at in all reality. Sighing, she trotted out of Koenma's office and shut the door behind her. When the latch had clicked into place, the young girl leaned back on the door, digging her hands into the pockets of her white lab coat. _'It's nothing.' _She kept telling herself. _'Just words on a paper, nothing more. It has nothing to do with me, nothing at all! Although the word, no more like the phrase 'his cage' stood out-'_

A ton a bricks metaphorically whacked her on the head. Her dream! The word 'cage' had definitely come up in there. Not only that, a little boy had been kept inside the cage. Maybe there was something going on here-

Botan stopped herself before she went too far. Once more she shook her head before pushing off from the door, and walking briskly back downstairs. What was on that report was not for her eyes and had nothing to do with her. That was all. Case closed.

* * *

A lovely soprano tune floated through the nearly empty lab room as Botan hummed to herself while cleaning and putting away glassware. All around her save for the sound she was producing was the silence of the early evening. Everyone, with the exception of Koenma, had either gone home or was leaving now. The sound of knuckles rapping on the door frame startled Botan, causing her to jump, and nearly drop the beaker she'd been holding. The glass object jumped and danced around on the tips of her fingers before she finally clasped it in her hands and set it down on the counter, making a clunking sound as the glass slammed on the polished black. Taking a breath to calm herself, Botan stood up straight, and turned around to face a sheepish looking Hiro, blushing a bit under his olive complexion.

"Ah… sorry about that Botan. Um, are you heading home yet?"

At that question, his whole body seemed to turn a bright pink. Small, brown mice scurried to corners of the room, before settling on the object of the inquiry. Botan smiled. Hiro was cute when he blushed; the situation reminded Botan of a nerdy schoolboy trying to get up the courage to talk to the pretty, boisterous girl in a neighboring class. Her hand reached back behind her to grab to beaker and continue with her work. Kill two birds with one stone, and all that jazz. She continued cleaning up while talking to Hiro.

"No, not yet. I still need to clean this lab area, and then I need to deliver that fax to Koenma."

She said, blindly pointing in the direction of a lab table that sat closer to the door. Three white rectangles stood out against the shiny, black surface, each with its own variant of print upon it. The cupboard doors slightly above Botan's head clapped shut as she was now finished with putting away the glassware. Her shoes made squeaking noises as she walked across the room and picked up the papers, and began to look through them, making sure she did indeed have the right fax. Once she'd gotten a lab fax and the electric bill mixed up, and had faxed the bill by mistake. That had been one giant mess trying to call not only the hospital where the bill had been faxed to, trying to explain to them that the bill had been mixed in with a pile of fax papers, and trying to call the billing agency telling the woman on the other end that they did have the bill, it was just on the other side of the prefecture, and would take some time getting back to the lab. And oh lovely it had really been when the hospital had ended up losing the electric bill! Botan hadn't been docked pay, but Koenma had given her s stern talking to, telling her that if something of this magnitude was ever to happen again, it would be her job.

While she had been busy looking over the papers in her hand, Hiro had stepped into the room. Like her, he now wore a smile on his face, albeit a tired one.

"That's too bad. I was hoping that you'd like to go have dinner with me sometime, or maybe grab an evening tea at a café somewhere in town."

His eyes widened as he realized what he was saying.

"I-I mean as co-workers! Not like…you know…dating. No not like that! Just two people getting off work to go have a coffee or something …right?"

Candy colored eyes that looked as sweet a jolly rancher glowed as their owner chuckled, radiating light, and the sound of tiny bells.

"Yes, I understand; and I'm sorry, I really wish I could go. How about a rain check?* I'll try to look ahead and see if I can find a loophole in my schedule. Sound good to you?"

Hiro's face exploded in a wide, goofy grin. He seemed to skip out of the room. However, the assistant remembered his manners, and turned to face the girl who had now been the one asking him a question.

"Yes, that sounds great Botan! I'll try to see if I have a blank spot in my schedule. I'll talk to you tomorrow! Good night!"

An excited hand waved over his shoulder, and not two seconds later, Hiro had disappeared down the hall. The sound of him whistling rang through the empty halls for about five minutes, bouncing off the tiled floors, and sitting soundly in her eardrums. Once again, Hiro was meaning well. He was cute, Botan had to admit that, but she wasn't sure if he was really her type. It was a shame really, she got along so well with him, but deep down she barely knew the poor guy. Going out with him at least once was the least she could do. Besides, she might actually earn herself a boyfriend after all those dull, gray years of being single!

Down the hallway, and up the stairs, her feet walked her through the west wing of the laboratory, eventually stopping her in front of Koenma's door. A note had been attached.

_Botan, _

It read,

_What a shock! I finished all my paperwork early, so I had some time_

_To take off and go see my dad for once. Sorry for not being able to come down and tell you._

_See you tomorrow. Have a good night and a safe trip home._

_Koenma._

Great, just great. If it had been any other day, Botan would have been ecstatic that her boss had finally gotten some free time in the evening, but tonight she had desperately needed to ask him about the documents she had seen on his desk. All throughout the rest of her shift, the possible fact that Libra could be killing its test subjects kept eating at her. In the front of her mind, she knew that it was impossible, but she just couldn't rule out what had been put down in plain black and white. She sighed. Fate really sucked. The one day when she actually had a legitimate question for Koenma (heck, her job may have even depended on that question. No way was she working somewhere similar to a modern day Auschwitz!), he got free time.

Resigning herself to the fact that she would just have to wait, she slipped the lab reports underneath the door, and walked back downstairs. While she walked, her thoughts decided they would keep her company, what with her being the only one in the entire facility; or so she thought. _'Come to think of it, when Mom was alive, she never really talked about her job here very much. When she did, it was very vague. Even now, while I'm working here, I'm the lowest on the totem pole. Of course that's to be expected, I'm not only a tech, but a high school student. It's obvious they wouldn't want me involved in some of the more complicated procedures, but still I really have no idea _what _exactly is going on here. I need to find out._

Unaware that her feet had been on autopilot, she stopped and examined her new surroundings. White hallway that went along for a few feet before ending in a set of double doors. She looked behind her, trying to figure out how she'd gotten here; behind her was a partial wall indicating she'd turned a corner. Botan retraced her steps a bit, and peeked around, more hallways, and beyond that another turned corner. Weird, she knew the lab had other wings, but she'd primarily worked in the west wing. Could it have been possible she wandered into another area on accident? Obviously yes, and this meant…

"Oh great! I'm lost in my own workplace, and lucky me there's no one to help me out."

'_Wait, just wait a minute Botan, try not to get too ahead of yourself. This place is pretty big right? So maybe there's a map or two that can help me out. Or…'_ Her thoughts trailed off as she looked back at the set of double doors that stood silently before her. Maybe those doors led outside? After all, she was on the ground floor, so it was worth a shot. With a bounce in her step, and hope possibly on the horizon, she trotted forward, pushed open the doors…

And stepped into another corridor. Definitely not what she had been expecting. A click sounded behind her, just barely above audible. Like she had been lit on fire, she whipped around, and shoved the door. It met her hand with no resistance, sailing back into empty air, even smacking against the wall behind it. Oh, good, it hadn't locked. Hang on, why was she getting so scared? So she had gotten lost in the lab, big deal. She would just find a map, or retrace her steps and get out. Except…

A cold shudder raced down her spine, making the boisterous lab tech hug her body tightly. There was just something off about this area of the lab. It was cold down here, but not in the temperature way; the chill seemed to be coming from the very place she now found herself in. Botan shivered; it was like walking right into a horror movie. The tiny ticking sound of her watch drew her attention. Just a little past seven o' clock. Outside the sun would just be starting to set, and in around five or ten minutes shadows would have encompassed the roads, swelling across the concrete surface, making it difficult for her headlights to cut through.

"Well, maybe if I keep moving I'll find a map, or an exit door."

Her voice sounded too loud, and shaky. Botan decided it would be best just to keep quiet. No sound came from her feet as she traversed down the hallway. It was as if the very ground beneath her feet had swallowed up every vibration; she couldn't even hear the buzzing of the overhead lights, which was an easily discernable sound when there was no one else in the lab.

Botan kept walking, careful not to let her eyes dart around, for fear that she would trip over something, or run into something. Which, hopefully would be a door leading out. Her hands kept clenching into fists and unclenching as she walked; a nervous habit she'd developed over the years. Right now, it was the only thing keeping her from tearing off down the hall at breakneck speed. Once again, the blue haired girl found herself face to face with yet another door. Just how many doors were there in this place anyway? Jeez, and to think of what the architect had gone through when designing this place. No, make that the construction workers who had built this place.

Like the first set she had walked through, these were also double doors, painted in the gray color common to all doors throughout the laboratory. However, unbeknownst to Botan, who was too busy deciding whether or not to try her luck and walk through them, a lock hung off a broken chain that had been looped around the door handles. Now the chain hung precariously off of the left door handle, dangling the lock like a ship dangles an anchor before it is plunged into the bottom of the ocean. Under circumstances like these, she would have noticed the lock; it was the only thing that didn't fit the surrounding area, but Botan was too involved in her predicament of trying to get the heck out to notice something as minuscule as a lock attached to a broken chain.

The hinges creaked as Botan slowly pulled the door on the right open. Expecting a rush of cool air, she was immediately shocked by the lack of evening breeze that was supposed to be hitting her full force in the face.

Yep, you guessed it folks, another hallway. The sterile white of the corridor in front of her began to blur as tears threatened to spill forth. Botan ground her teeth hard to keep from crying hysterically. She would get out of here. If worse came to worst, she would just have to retrace her steps, and wait until morning for someone to show up. Yes, she would be just fine. Relief washed over her with a wave of warmth; she had a plan, she was going to be fine. Botan was about to turn around, when, for the second time that day, something interesting caught her eye.

On each side of the long corridor, there were closed doors. No light shown out from beneath them, and perhaps the most interesting thing was the locks on each and every door, securing them fast to the wall. Maybe equipment was stored down here? _'However, if someone wanted, they could easily pick those locks, even if they are big. It looks like they're meant to keep something __**in**__.' _The report she'd read earlier today came crashing back into her head.

_Subject 0013 has a very disturbing quality of going berserk…_

What the hell was going on? Where** was **she? Botan tried her best not to shake, and tentatively put a foot forward, swallowing the growing lump of fear in her throat. Each and every door seemed to stare at her as she passed, looking at her with a single window that sat near the top of the door. Allowing her, if she wanted to peek in and-

She froze. Did something just move?

Pink stared at black hard, trying to convince the erratic, frightened mind that it did not see what it thought. Silence. Nothing happened. _'I'm getting way too worked up.' _She thought. When she went to turn away, she noticed something incredibly odd that caused her to whip her head back around.

There at the bottom of the door, four inches in diameter, was a small slat. The kind that people would use to slide something through to the other side. What was that there for? Botan shook her head, deciding she didn't want to find our, and began walking at a much more brisk pace down the empty (or seemingly empty) corridor. The walk turned into a run when she could stand it no longer. The place was creepy; she had to get out of here fast. The run turned into a sprint when the hallway stretched on, almost like it was never ending. Tears that had been held in reserve finally began to wash up, and tumble down her cheeks. It was like a nightmare. As she ran, Botan told herself that if she managed to get out of here one hundred percent okay, she would consider asking Koenma for a day off tomorrow.

Not paying attention to her immediate surroundings, Botan ran head first into another door. Glancing down, she saw this one was unlocked. Thanking, and at the same time praying to whatever god or gods that were kind enough to be listening, she opened it up, and walking straight into one of the strangest rooms she'd ever seen.

It didn't fit with the rest of the area; it seemed to…normal. Like it was an office or something, but then again, she wondered as her eyes settled on the queen bed set in the middle, what office would have a bed in it? Did someone live here? To the right of the bed sat a nightstand, and on that were a couple books; Botan was close enough to notice the titles: _Jigsaw Man _and _Skeleton Crew _by Gord Rollo and Stephen King. A gentle breeze stirred her hair. Her eyes widened. A breeze meant outside, outside meant freedom, freedom meant being able to go home. Quickly and quietly, she shut the door behind her, and began running in the direction of the breeze. Her feet took her through a glass door…out onto a balcony? When had she climbed stairs? Simple: She hadn't, but as she mentally retraced her steps, her feet seemed to remember going up a set of stairs, just not her mind.

_'I was so busy thinking I didn't even realize I'd walked up another staircase! No wonder I've been having such a hard time finding a way out! _Botan wasn't sure whether she wanted to laugh at herself for her own stupidity, sigh in relief, or be afraid at the fact that she would have to walk down that dreaded hallway again. As she contemplated her options, a cough to her left sounded, making Botan nearly jump out of her skin. She turned her whole body to where the offending sound had come from. Sitting in a chair, holding a book in his hands, and looking at her curiously was a boy about her age with long red hair, and emerald green eyes. Boy and girl continued to look at each other as said girl took deep breaths, trying to calm down. The boy smiled at her. Botan, unsure of what to do, continued to stare. The response to her continuous stare was a small chuckle. Something in the back of her mind told her it would be okay to relax, so relax she did. She joined the boy, giving him a smile herself.

"I'm sorry, did I disturb you?"

Perfect white teeth flashed as he smiled back. Green eyes glittered with amusement.

"No, no it's fine. But…how did you get in here? I've never seen you before."

Never seen her before? What did that mean? He looked no older than her, so maybe he lived there? That was impossible though. Libra was a laboratory, not a hotel, no one lived there.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what you mean."

Confusion replaced curiosity as the boy put a finger to his chin.

"Well, the only person that comes by here is an assistant with black hair, brown eyes, and glasses."

"Hiro? Are you talking about Hiro?"

"Yes, do you know him?"

Hiro had been here before? Multiple times? Who was this person? How did he know Hiro? Too many questions were circulating in Botan's head, a fog of befuddlement was threatening to push away coherent thought. She ignored it and answered the question.

"Yes, I know him, but how do you? I mean who are you?"

Now he really looked confused. Those green eyes looked her over, as if he was trying to decide whether or not she was some kind of alien. Botan waited patiently for an answer. What came out of the boy's mouth was shocking to say the least.

"My name is Kurama. Forgive me if I seem shocked, but I'm just confused. You see, I thought you knew about Project Phoenix."

"Project Phoenix?"

Was he subject 0013? If he was, she'd made a very bad move. Unfortunately, she was trapped, not only in a dead end, but also on the second floor. Way to go Botan. She gulped a little. This guy now had her full attention, not that she liked hearing what came out of his moth next.

"Yes. Project Phoenix was a lab operation organized ten years ago that abducted demons and used and still uses them as test subjects. I am one of those test subjects."

* * *

**Sorry to leave it on a cliffhanger, I promise to update promptly! I'm just glad I got over the spell of writer's block I had in the earlier part in the chapter. Anyway, drop a comment of you wish. I'll be writing in the meantime. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey people, and welcome to BioPattern Rose chapter three! I'm glad I've been able to take it this far, I thought the fic would have fallen through by now. **

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* * *

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_I am one of those test subjects._

His words kept ringing through her head. Pink orbs focused on the road illuminated by twin yellow beams of light. Luckily for her, there was a full moon out tonight, so it wasn't as dark as she'd expected it to be, which made her drive home a lot less hazardous.

"Tired of waiting around for your claims settlement check? Do you feel the money you're getting just isn't-"

Botan turned the radio off. The commercials kept cutting through her concentration. Lazing around a curve in the road, her thoughts went back half an hour ago.

* * *

_What? Botan stared at him. What did he mean? Demons used as test subjects? Was he saying the demons actually existed? Confusion muddled her mind, but shock cleared it up in record time, leaving her cold and silent. Silent, save for the one word that fell from her lips:_

_"…What?"_

_The boy, no, Kurama put the book down and turned the upper half of his body so he could face her directly._

_"Allow me to start at the beginning, well, as much if it as I know. Since antiquity, humans have been fascinated by demons. Our mysterious nature and long life spans have sought out the need for understanding by those humans who were not busy trying to hunt down and kill us. However, as time passed, and we faded from culture, demons found themselves facing a dilemma: either fade away completely, or adapt and live on. Naturally we chose the latter, as any species will adapt regardless of it being a conscious decision or not. The majority of us began to live alongside humans, although we did not care for the air of your cities. Instead we chose to live in rural areas, some of us forming small villages up in the seclusion of the mountains. Time passed, medical science advanced, and humans became obsessed with their own racing clock of mortality. Not that I resent them for that; any creature will fight impossible odds to extend its own life, be it even by a few years. Grasping at straws, various people were called in by the lab to participate in tests in order to have their DNA extracted and examined, so Libra could further its pursuit for the perfect human being. One of the humans turned out to be a demon, which had been quietly living among humans for the past two hundred years. _

_"Once that piece of evidence had been discovered, the entire lab went into an uproar. The beginning stages of the Phoenix Project were being put into place. Stage One, being to find any demons, and get any available information from them. Enma ordered a pacifist approach: rather than just up and capture demons, the scientists would temporarily live among them, and get whatever information they could. Enma explained that they would be able to get further by obtaining information from demons if they were in a more comfortable environment."_

_The back of her mind was still trying to process that fact that she was sharing her world with demons, creatures that had once been spoken of as myth. However, if she needed proof, it was right in front of her if she dared to need it any further. Meanwhile, the immediate part of her mind was sifting through what had just been presented to her. So what she had seen on Koenma's desk earlier had been correct! Wait…in the report, it stated that the demon, Subject 0013, was being quarantined in the lab. So when did Libra begin to contradict its statement?_

_"I don't understand. Were what you just said the case, you wouldn't be here. What happened to make Enma change his mind?"_

_Kurama smiled as her question precipitated from her mouth to the surrounding air. It wasn't a sad smile, nor was it happy. It was empty, simply empty._

_"Things went well for about a year. However, there was gossip among some of the demonic population. 'Why have humans suddenly found an interest in us after decades of leaving us alone? What is their motive? _Is _there a motive?' This distrust was the product of years of persecution before being utterly left alone. Eventually, rumors became rife, and then became fact, although there was no proof to back up their accusations. The verbal strife erupted into physical violence. Three of Libra's scientists were brutally attacked and had to be hospitalized. Afterward, there was much debate on what to do from then on. 'Demons cannot be trusted' was the belief that was centered in the minds of the humans; likewise the other party thought the same of the other species._

_"One month and two more attacks later, Toguro, a friend of Enma's and a co-founder of the lab made the decision that instead of gaining information from living among demons, demons instead would be quarantined and tested. It was then that Phase One underwent a complete radical change from gaining information, to abducting various demons and bringing them here. All of these rooms you saw lining this corridor? Each and every one of them has a demon behind the door."_

* * *

The outline of a two story house loomed out of the darkness, the white paint reflected brightly in the moonlight. Botan turned off the ignition, and unbuckled her seatbelt. A muffled click was the only sound heard in the surrounding area as she stepped out of her car, and gently shut the door. Her blue hair shone silver as she approached the house, and unlocked the front door. A darkened interior and the sound of working vents were her only welcome home. Some days it really sucked living alone. Tonight would have been a wonderful night to sink into her mother's warm, comforting embrace and talk the night away. However, those days were gone, and she would just have to make do with her own thoughts for company.

The room immediately brightened as Botan flicked on the lights. Shutting the door behind her, she shrugged off her lab coat letting it plop to the floor. Botan turned around to pick it up, but shook her head as she bent down. Screw it; she would pick it up tomorrow. A sudden weariness had sunk itself into her bones. All she wanted to do now was sleep. Instead, she resigned her self to plunking down on the couch to think everything over. After Kurama had finished telling her his tale, she had asked him if there was another way for her to get out. At first Kurama had regarded her strangely, but when he saw the frightened glance she shot at the door, he smiled and began tying the sheets from his bed together to make a rope so he could lower herself down to the ground below.

On top of the television, green numbers proclaimed the time to be half past eight. Keiko was probably studying if she wasn't getting ready for bed, and who knows what Kuwabara and Yusuke were doing. _'I just need something to get my mind off all this. I suppose I could finish my chemistry homework.' _Sadly, twenty minutes, one textbook, and twenty Ksp problems later, her mind was still circling back to her monumental discovery at the lab. With a snap, she closed her book, and drummed her fingers against the table top. Her mother had worked at Libra. Did that mean that she had been a part of Project Phoenix? It was highly likely, and if that was indeed the case…

_'Then that means Mom also helped in the abduction of demons. She too, kept secrets from me…'_

The sudden realization of just how in the dark she had been ceased the movement of Botan's incessantly drumming fingers. Her mother, just like all those around her, had been hiding what was possibly one of the biggest secrets in all of mankind. Energy alighted each and every nerve, sending her whole body ablaze with vitality. Knocked to the floor by her sudden springing to the feet, the chair clattered against the tile, coming to rest after a couple defiant bounces on the kitchen floor. Pounding footsteps were heard in the one occupant house as Botan dashed into her parent's room, a place left untouched since her mother's death, tore open the first drawer of her mother's vanity, and began shoving aside various socks, bras, and other under garments, in search of one valuable key.

"Aha!"

She cried aloud to the empty room. Clasped in her hands was a small, black, leather bound book; her mother's diary. When she was little, she'd had a constant habit of going through dresser drawers, the reasons behind this odd phenomenon still unknown to both Botan and her parents. On a crisp day in October, Botan had discovered her mother's diary lying amidst the articles of clothing. Her mother had come in at that moment, and found her daughter sitting on the floor, idly flipping the pages of the small book she held in her hands, not really reading so much as staring at the words written on the page. Even though Botan had gotten a scolding after that incident, her mother had never moved her diary.

Now, she knelt in front of her mother's vanity, much in the same way she did as when she had been a small, innocent child. Moonlight beamed in through the window, softly illuminating every nook and cranny of the master bedroom. Her hands trembled as she went to open the long forgotten chronicle. She gulped.

"I'm sorry Mom, but I have to do this. Please forgive me."

The cover fell to the left and the first page stared at her blankly. Atop the page, the date read Jun 11, 1983. No good, she'd have to go deeper. Around ten pages and sixteen years later, according to the date at the top of her current page, Botan found the entry she'd been looking for:

_Sept 18, 1999,_

_Today, I have seen something I believe no other living being, save for my co-workers, and those who lived decades ago have seen. Allow me to back up a bit before I begin this harrowing tale. _

_I started my job at Libra eight months ago. It is a wonderful job, and I love every minute of it. My degree is used to its full extent, and the pay is more than enough for me to support my daughter. I have been assigned to something called the Phoenix Project. Odd name right? Apparently, it is an operation designed by the head and founder of the lab, Enma, to genetically perfect the human body. At first I assumed I would be doing something as simple as testing and calculating the results from said tests that were being done on human beings. Imagine my surprise when I realized it was demons I was conducting tests on! When I first looked at the blood sample I had collected, I thought I was hallucinating. The deadly microbes I had injected into the small sample were being destroyed; a feat impossible for a human. I asked Enma what could be causing this, and in a serious tone he asked me;_

_"Riko, do you believe in demons?"_

_My look must have seemed incredulous, for he chuckled a bit. He proceeded to lead me into the east wing, talking to me all the while about what had been occurring before I applied to the facility. Apparently, they have been studying demons for a little over a year now, placing them in all kinds of tests ranging from combat to a simple blood test much like the one I had been doing. _

_On our walk, I noticed that that the doors in a particular corridor had large padlocks on them, definitely meant to keep someone out, or more like something __**in. **__I asked Enma what this could be about. Grimly, he replied that in the beginning stages of the Phoenix Project, some of the lab members had been brutally attacked. It was decided then on that demons were dangerous to be dealing with, but far too valuable assets to let go. Enma and Toguro compromised by abducting them to be used as further test subjects. I shivered as I looked at every door we passed. The weight of many eyes on me pushed deep into my soul. It was terrifying. No wonder they'd been locked up!_

_A few hours later, I finished with work and came home after picking up Botan from her babysitter. It is now eleven o' clock as I write this and it still boggles my mind to think I have been sharing my world with demons or the past 30 years!_

True; everything Kurama had told her was entirely true. Not wanting to, but knowing she needed to find out more, Botan turned the page and read the next entry. She couldn't keep the shaking out of her hands.

_Sept 27, 1999_

_Today I had the shock of my life. After getting to work, and settling into my usual routine (I am now quite accustomed to working in a dual species environment), I was called over to speak with the Co-director, Toguro. To be honest, I can't stand the man. He is quite cynical, and always speaks in a cryptic manner. He should have been a poet if he wants to talk like that, but anyway, back to the story. Toguro informed me that a new demon had been brought into the lab, and needed to go through a thorough starting examination. This for me meant another awkward health check, seeing as how I probably would be eyed up like a juicy steak or something even worse. Don't get me wrong, there are a few demons that are quite polite, and there are some that are (eerily) quiet. It's the others (mostly male) that don't know how to keep their eyes to themselves that get on my nerves._

_I was directed to a room at the very end of the corridor Enma had walked me through yesterday. Upon reaching the door, I noticed that it had no lock. Quite odd, considering every door around me was secured fast, and was prevented from moving even a centimeter. Cautiously, I turned the knob, only to walk into what appeared to be an empty room, with a bed up against the wall directly opposite me. Sitting on the bed, was a boy about five or six or six years of age. The eyes that peered at me from between lines of crimson hair were the most brilliant shade of emerald I had ever seen. He smiled at me, and I smiled back, astounded that instead of a fully grown adult, a child was before me. At this, my motherly reflexes took over, and I began to talk to him. I greeted him with the usual chipper hello, and watched as he merely smiled at me once again. 'Maybe he's afraid of me.' I thought. Surely it wasn't that big of a stretch. Men dressed in white coats had drug him off from wherever he had been, only to place him in an empty room, at the end of a long, lonely hallway. It seemed only right for him to be frightened. _

_Shutting the door behind me, I walked over to the bed and sat down beside him. He watched me carefully, trying to appear nonchalant, but ready to bolt to the nearest corner of the room if I gave any indication that I was going to do him harm. I chuckled._

_"It's alright. I won't hurt you, I promise."_

_He seemed to relax a little bit, and even giggled at his own foolishness. His eyes dropped down to the bed he was sitting on. I heard him mumble something, but I couldn't make out what it was. Curiously, I asked him what he had said. Once again, I was met with frightened eyes as his head flew up so fast I was surprised he didn't get whiplash. Smiling, I reassured him that in no way, shape, or form, would I hurt him. He calmed down some more, and repeated what he had said;_

_"Who are you?"_

_"My name is Riko." _

_I replied smiling._

_"What's yours?"_

_His eyes once again dropped to the white comforter beneath him as he battled his urge to stay quiet and not say anything. After a minute of silence, he responded with;_

_"I have two names."_

_"Two names? What do you mean by that?"_

_He didn't answer me for about five minutes. When he finally responded, it was in a very quiet voice that I had to strain to hear. _

_"My names are Suuichi and Kurama."_

_"Oh."_

_I said, caught off guard by the childlike innocence in his voice._

_"Is one of them a nickname?"_

_He shook his head._

_"They're both my real names."_

_Okay…color me confused. I looked at him, trying to figure out what he meant, and how he could have two names. 'Could he be talking about his first and last name?' I wondered. It was possible, as little children are bound to say something like that in regard to their given and family name. However, one look at the little boy's eyes, and I could tell he wasn't lying. Knowing full well I wasn't going to be completing that starting examination soon, but not caring, I asked him what he meant. The little boy answered in the matter-of-fact way all children posses._

_"I used to be Kurama, but then when I was four, this nice woman with long black hair named me Suuichi. So now I have two names."_

_"And who was the nice woman who named you?"_

_At this, his eyes became covered in solemn clouds of gray that darkened his eyes. Absently, he picked up a pillow and hugged it to his chest, bringing his knees up to rest against its softness. A lonely stare directed itself at the door across from us. _

_"She was…my mom."_

_"Was she a demon?"_

_He shook his head and squeezed the pillow tighter._

_"No, she was a human."_

_"A human?"_

'_Is he a half-demon?' I thought. It wasn't impossible. Heck, if demons exist, then it's not a far cry to assume that there are half-breed children running around as well. In reply to my question, the boy simply nodded, and tried to sink further into the pillow he clung to. Poor thing. Reaching out, I gently placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder._

_"Can you tell me what happened to her?"_

_At first I wasn't sure if he was going to answer me or not. He just kept staring, and I began to wonder if he was going to start crying. Finally, after about five minutes of yet more silence, he said;_

_"She got sick… and wouldn't get better. She wouldn't go to the hospital either. I don't remember a whole lot, but I do know she died. Next thing I knew, these scary men in white coats came and brought me here."_

_I began to stroke his back in a small effort to comfort him._

_"Why wouldn't she go to the hospital?"_

_A shrug was my answer, followed by;_

_"I don't know. She just said that she didn't need to go."_

_The answer was obvious: the woman didn't want to leave the boy for fear of what might happen to him. I became aware of the small frame beneath my hand had started shaking with silent sobs.__ Not __even thinking, I pulled him close to and held him tightly while he cried. While I listened to the sobs slowly die, I felt bile rising up in my throat. What the hell had they been thinking? They had kidnapped a child, a frightened and lonely child who had just lost the only mother he ever knew! There was a grinding sound in my mouth as I gnashed my teeth together. Even now I believe what Libra has done is wrong; what in the hell possessed them to capture a small child and bring him here to face a life of never ending tests? While I sat there fuming, I felt the small body in my arms grow limp. The boy had fallen asleep. _

_Soft, slow breaths met my ears as I looked down at the small child nestled safely in my arms. However, as much as I wanted, I couldn't stay there with him forever. Carefully, so as not to disturb him, I pulled back the rumpled sheets and laid him on the plush mattress, neatly tucking him in. I felt it would be rude to just up and leave him, so without a care, I reached into the upper pocket on my lab coat, brought out a note I had taken earlier, and a pen, and wrote on the back, laying it beside his head. _

_Ten minutes later, Toguro accosted me, asking how the starting examination went. Knowing full well that lying would be highly unadvisable, I told him that I had been unable to rouse the boy, and despite all my efforts, nothing had worked. He accepted this as truth, informing me that they'd had to inject him with a powerful sedative before they had been able to relocate him. It took all my resolve not to throttle him. That bastard talked as if that boy was no more than cargo! I couldn't help it. I was pissed off at the lab, but more so Toguro and I could have cared less than if I lost my job (Not a good idea in retrospect). His back was to me, so that probably helped in giving me my courage (no WAY would I say something like this to his face. The guy was creepy enough), and snarled;_

_"He's a little boy. Just what the hell were you thinking? You took a child, a frightened, orphaned child, and brought him _here! _Of all places! Why?"_

_The behemoth stopped in mid-stride. Slowly he turned, and I am ashamed to say I flinched when I saw his face. Even beneath the sunglasses he always wore, I could tell he was angry, no he was furious. 'Oh hell. Riko, now look what you've done! You'll be lucky if you don't get fired on the spot!'I thought. Even standing five feet from him, I could see that his bottom jaw was locked. Oh so not good. His voice was low, but menacing enough to catch my ears;_

_"No matter his gender, no matter his age, no matter his circumstances, the fact remains that he is still a demon and therefore, is a test subject."_

_"So we just sit here, and hold him prisoner?"_

_A poisonous smile curled on his lips._

_"Children are the easiest to mold."_

_Then, he turned and walked away, leaving me with one of his usual cryptic comments. I still feel terrible about leaving the boy (do I call him Suuichi or Kurama? I am still indecisive about that) behind, but I do have my own life, and my own child to attend to. I just pray that he'll be alright. _

Botan yawned, and checked the clock above the vanity. The time read 9:45. Rubbing her eyes, she put the diary back, sent one more apology to her mother, and walked back to her room. It toook around a minute, but her eyes soon adjusted to the darkness around her, picking out her bed from among the mass of shadows. Too tired to get undressed, she simply yanked back the sheets, flopped down on the bed, and was asleep in minutes.

* * *

"Hey Hiro, may I ask you something?"

He glanced up from his cup of tea. Behind them, a group of teenage girls were giggling about a teacher or something related to high school. A waitress brushed past their table carrying three teas on the tray and a tart. Botan sat across from Hiro, gripping her cup in both hands as she stared down into the pinkish red liquid of her rose tea. After talking, and pushing, Botan had managed to convince Koenma to let her leave work early at around six o' clock. Hiro had had to leave earlier on account of his sister was flying in from Osaka, and he needed to go pick her up from the airport.

"What is it?"

She wasn't sure what exactly to say. The entries in her mother's diary coupled with her conversation with Kurama, the boy she'd discovered yesterday, had been quite the information overload. Her vision shifted from her cup to Hiro, back to her cup, and then back to Hiro. Sighing, she decided to hell with tact.

"Well…"

Of course that didn't mean this wasn't any less easy.

"I… I know."

"About what?"

Boy, did people love playing dumb.

"I know about the Phoenix Project. I know what it is, and that everyone from the lab, excluding me is involved."

Botan watched as Hiro paled slightly. Not giving him the chance to ask questions, she continued.

"I got lost last night after I slipped those faxes underneath Koenma's door. After pushing through various doors in the east wing, I came across the corridor where the demons are housed. At the very end, I entered into a room where I met a demon named Kurama. He was the one who told me about the history behind the Phoenix Project; later that night I arrived home, and checked through my mother's diary in order to validate my suspicions. So, my question is: why was I kept uniformed?"

For a long time, her co-worker just sat there, staring at her, then out the window to the left of the table. The sound of him heaving a heavy sigh met her ears.

"Well, the answer to that is simple Botan. You are far too young to be involved in our…more secretive matters. Libra operates both as a local laboratory and as a government facility. In all reality you're lucky to have gotten your job at all."

"But I've worked at Libra for the past nine months!"

"Botan, please try to keep your voice down. We can't afford to have this conversation overheard."

She could feel her nails biting into the flesh of her palms as she attempted to keep her temper in check. Gritting her teeth, she sucked in a breath and calmed herself down before she spoke. Hiro continued speaking much to her annoyance.

"Yes, I understand that you've worked with us for close to a year. I also understand that your mother worked at Libra for around ten years. However, I am not sure that this-"

"Koenma."

The steely, clipped sound of her voice slammed the rest of Hiro's speech up against a wall. The noise level in the café had risen a bit, so their conversation was masked much more easily. Her tea was going cold, but Botan hardly cared. She wanted on that project, and she'd die trying. Well, maybe not literally, but she would risk getting fired. Hiro's expression resembled a deer in the headlights.

"What?"

"You heard me. Try Koenma. See what he would say."

Normally, she was never this blatant, nor rude. It was quite out of character for her, but she wanted to get her point across. Light flashed across his glasses as the lab assistant pushed them further up his nose.

"Well…I suppose…I could try. I mean, Koenma seems to have taken a liking to you, and he kept you after that whole incident with the hospital fax."

"So you'd try?"

"Yes."

"You'd speak for me? On my behalf?"

"Yes."

"You'd get me on the Phoenix Project?"

"What part of 'yes' do you not understand Botan?"

Giddiness, elation, and overflowing happiness; these words don't even cover the feeling that swelled within Botan's chest. It was however, mixed with just a hint of pride. A flash of blue was the only warning Hiro got as Botan literally leapt over the table and glomped him. All thought later ceased as the blunette clasped her lips with his in a gratitude-expressing kiss.

"Oh! Thank you so much Hiro!"

Botan's pocket began vibrating. Curiously, and oblivious to the scarlet man sitting in front of her, Botan pulled out her phone and examined the text she had just received.

"Crap! I totally forgot about that seven o' clock study session with Keiko tonight! I'm sorry Hiro, I hate to cut and run, but I have to go. Thanks again, bye!"

With that, Botan turned on her heel, and high-tailed it out of the café to meet a very impatient Keiko. Meanwhile, back in the café, Hiro was finally able to regain the ability to think. Ah what a wonderful adaptation of man, thought! Stopped only by the soft lips of a girl! (AN: No idea why, I just had to put that in) The table behind them giggled, and one girl whispered about 'the shame of the cute guy being taken'. Once again, Hiro pushed his glasses further up his face.

"I guess I'll be talking to Koenma tomorrow."

Wait. On second thought, Botan had his number. Knowing her, she would try to call him right after her study session was over. Then again, knowing high school girls, she may just forget about it. Nah, this was Botan. No matter how scatter brained she was; if she wanted to remember something, she remembered it. It looked like he'd be heading back to Libra earlier than he'd expected. Hiro dug through his pockets, trying to locate his phone. When he found it, he pressed the green button on the top right.

"Hey sis? Yeah, it's me. Uh…dinner may have to wait a little bit longer."

Hiro spent twenty minutes trying to tune out his irate sister, and trying to figure out how to turn the volume down on the call.

* * *

**I'm sorry if this chapter seems a little short. There will be more plot development, and Karasu may be mentioned in passing in the next chapter. Toguro may appear, I'm not exactly sure yet. There will be more appearances of Kurama though. Who knows? Maybe I'll get to squeeze in a tiny KxB moment. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey readers, I know it's been a while and I'm truly sorry for that. A huge cyber hug to everyone who reviewed and waited patiently. **

**Disclaimer: See chapters two and one.**

**Let's begin!**

Hiro's glasses hit the floor.

"I-I'm sorry Koenma sir, but could you say that one more time?"

Koenma, assistant director of Libra, rose from his desk chair, walked over to Hiro, picked up the dropped glasses, and handed them back to his aide.

"I said that she would make a good addition to the team. Mind you her age will be a liability issue, but signing a waver should take care of all that. Plus it only makes sense to place her on the Phoenix Project with her mother having been involved and all." He stated, turning back to his desk to sort through the various files that had been placed there earlier in the day. Hiro continued to fondle the bows of his glasses.

"But sir…what if she's attacked or in the worst case killed? I don't think the medical examiner can put down 'Demon Attack' on the Cause of Death line."

Koenma placed one of the files in a stack on the right of his desk. "Relax Hiro, your concerns are unfounded. This is a government-run and government funded operation; a cover-up will be provided. Besides, if her mother could do this job without any problems, then I have full confidence Botan can too."

"Well yes, you are correct, but I still don't-" One look into Koenma's eyes froze whatever the aide had left to say. Those amber eyes which generally held the warmth of liquid gold now resembled twin tawny daggers, glinting with annoyance. It was then Hiro became aware of the fact that any more peeps out of him, and his job would be in the line of fire.

"Do you doubt my word Hiro?"

"…No sir."

"Good. After all, if you'll remember, it was my father who hired Botan, not me. If he believed she was fully capable in working in this environment, then so do I." Having closed the discussion, Koenma reached behind him, grabbed a file, and placed it under Hiro's nose. Printed upon the smooth, manila surface were the words 'I-04 Test Results'. A smart man, Hiro silently accepted his defeat along with the file from his superior. Meanwhile, Koenma was now seated behind his desk, air of cold authority replaced by a casual bed side manner.

"I'd like you to hand those results over to one of the techs working in the west wing and see if they can get this file faxed out as soon as possible."

"Yes sir."

His hand had just clutched the painted gold of the doorknob when Koenma's voice leashed his attention.

"Oh, and one more thing; if you would please, give Botan a call and tell her to report to my office at exactly nine o' clock sharp tomorrow morning. Afterword, you are to be her supervisor until she gets used to her new working environment."

What? He, Hiro, was to be Botan's supervisor? Images of what had transpired earlier at the café flashed through his mind. How on Earth was he supposed to talk to her, much less supervise her after that?

"Hiro? Are you okay?"

The aide snapped out of his frantic daze upon hearing his name, nearly dropping the file Koenma had given him. As he fumbled for both the file and the doorknob words flew from his mouth in an inarticulate garble too fast for any ear to comprehend. The only thing the assistant director was able to catch was:

"…but I'm sure things will work out. See you tomorrow!" Hiro exclaimed as he zipped out the door. After a couple minutes of staring at the closed door as if it held some clue to the other man's strange behavior a moment ago, Koenma sighed and shook his head. Such outbursts of personality and comical oddness were refreshing after all. With Hiro out of the room, Koenma pulled a letter out of his pocket that had been sitting in there since early that morning. When he had arrived he had been surprised to see Karasu, Toguro's aide, standing by his office. It was a surprise because Koenma normally never saw Karasu at the lab that early in the morning. He always came in at around eight-ish or so. He had been handed a letter with a word of advice not to open it until much later that day. Well, it was later now, and Koenma still wasn't sure whether he wanted to open it or not.

His name had been written on the front of the envelope in a flowing script which didn't seem to fit the giant of a man seen stalking the grounds of the lab. Koenma's hand twitched as he went to make a grab for the letter opener in his desk drawer then thought better of it. No, he would wait until much later, preferably when he was at home. He didn't like Toguro, didn't trust him, and this ominous letter only helped to strengthen the mistrust. Another sigh parted the young man's lips as he sank back into his chair. Just a couple more hours left to go. Just a couple more.

"How many of these does Kisaragi-sensei expect us to do?" Botan asked as she stared at the fifth page of the geometry study packet. Five paragraph proofs regarded the frustrated girl with the blank stare that often accompanied geometry problems, telling her to quit moaning and just do it. That however was the problem. Botan didn't want to do them; _hated _doing them in fact. In vain she tried to burn a hole through the page by glaring at it. _Why the heck do I have to write an entire paragraph-okay more like three to five lines-of theorems and rules when all you have to do is look at one or two sides and say 'Hey! Those triangles are equal!' Oh I hate geometry! _Botan went on cursing the class in her head while Keiko looked on, chuckling to herself.

"Are you done having a staring contest with the paper?" She asked. A small "Eep!" issued from the other girl's mouth as she sat bolt upright. The packet that had absorbed so much of her friend's attention and anger fluttered to the floor, papers ruffling as if they were getting a good laugh out of this as well.

"Sorry about that Keiko. I just can't stand these things. I swear Kisaragi-sensei is plotting my downfall on this next test."

"Why don't we take a break then?"

"What? We're almost done."

"I know, but to be honest I'm even getting tired of all these endless numbers, measurements, angles, and theorems." Keiko said massaging her aching temples. Truly it would be a wonder if she didn't have a headache by the time she got home. She wondered if Botan's prediction about her demise being plotted was true; only it seemed to Keiko that their instructor was going after all the students.

Botan released her pencil as if it was a rat containing the bubonic plague and hopped to her feet, leading Keiko out the door.

"Well then, why don't I make us some tea so that we can just sit and relax for a few minutes?"

"Sure Botan that would be great. Let's just not make it for too long though. I promised my mother I'd be home at around eight-thirty or so. She needs me back early so that I can get to sleep around nine to be in tip top shape to help her clean the house tomorrow." The brunette chuckled. "My mother can be a demon when it comes to cleaning house."

Demon. The word brought Botan up short. _'My mom can be a demon.' _Surely Keiko meant that as a figure of speech, but what if it wasn't? What if there was some truth behind it? Just how many demons were being held in Libra versus the number that were still free? And what about the demons currently at the lab; what was to be their fate? Kurama, the boy she had met a day ago, what would happen to him? Was he nothing more than material to the lab or-

"Earth to Botan!"

"Huh?"

"Don't 'Huh?' me! I've been trying to get your attention for the past five minutes now! Why on Earth did you suddenly go all spacey on me?"

Botan looked at her best friend, the one who she had tried her very best on the entrance exam to get into the same high school with, the one who was always concerned about her no matter what was going on in her private life, the one she never kept secrets from…except for now. She couldn't help it. There was no sugar coating anything, she couldn't even afford to tell a single sliver of the truth to Keiko. After all what would Keiko do? Laugh? Tell her she was crazy? Or the worst part, believe every word and tell everyone she knew? No, Botan would and could not let that happen. Her only option was just to stand there and laugh it off as exhaustion. Keiko however, having grown up with Botan knew that her friend was a horrible liar.

"Botan, be serious here, is something wrong? Please, if there is, I'm here. It hasn't just been today, you've been spacing out all week. I'm starting to get really worried about you."

Those earnest, sincere brown eyes bored deep into Botan own candy pink ones, trying to find a way past the iron wall that held the one thing that could never be voiced save for behind the walls and closed doors of a local laboratory. Botan hated lying to Keiko, it felt all around wrong, but what could she do? Lose her job by loosening her lips that was what she could do. Keiko's right shoulder was given a reassuring squeeze as Botan beamed a blinding smile at her friend.

"Don't worry about me Keiko," Botan said, removing her hand only to pat the other shoulder. "My job's just had me running ragged recently is all."

It wasn't a complete lie, she had been run ragged. Just through the various hallways of the facility after she had gotten lost. Knowing she wasn't going to win, Keiko returned Botan's summer grin with a pale smile of her own and checked her watch. Her eyes seemed to bug out for a second then recede back into their sockets so far that she had to bring her watch close up to the point of touching her eyelashes to get a good look at the time.

" Keiko? Is something wrong?"

Now it was Botan's turn to be concerned. She leaned over into Keiko's view so that she could get a better look at the brunette's face. When eye contact had been established, Keiko's watch broke its hypnosis and set the girl free.

"Botan I am so sorry, but I have to head. I didn't realize it was this late already."

"What time is it?"

"8:16."

"Um…didn't you say you had to be home by eight-thirty?" Botan asked, voice rising as tentativeness crept into it. With a head that seemed to be sitting on a coiled spring, Keiko bobbed her head up and down, spun around on her heel, and raced upstairs to grab her things. On her way up Botan shouted after her,

"Don't worry Keiko, I'll drive you back to your house."

The sound of resounding footsteps echoed on the second floor, and began to get louder as their owner neared the stairwell. Belongings gathered, a flush-faced Keiko stood before Botan, attempting to politely decline the kind offer.

"Oh no, you don't have to; it's just a fifteen minute walk across town. I'll be fine, really." She said, gently squeezing past Botan and heading for the door. However, a cool single bit of logic brought the hot pursuit for the door up short.

"Yeah, but you don't exactly have fifteen minutes."

Keiko hated it when Botan was right.

Resigning herself to the fact that whether she liked it or not, she had lost, and Botan would be dropping her off at her house, Keiko stepped back from the door, and retreated to the neutral ground of the living room. After ten minutes of rummaging through the house in search for shoes and keys, both girls were out the door, in the car, and on their way.

_Home again, home again. _Botan thought as she shut the door behind her and surveyed the living room. Early evening light that had been floating just above the floor had now sunk below visible levels as the sun continued to dip further down the horizon. In just a few minutes it would be completely dark outside. She removed her shoes and walked into the kitchen, laying her keys down on the table and took a few minutes to stare out the deck door.

Streaks of orange and pink melted into the deep indigo that was spreading across the sky. Overhead on a telephone wire, a robin said a final farewell to the day before flying off to its nest. As Botan stood observing this behind a sheet of Plexiglas, it occurred to her that in about a month or so spring would be sloughing off into fall. As she took another look at the mixture of colors in the sky she wondered if Kurama was watching the same sunset and what he was thinking about. Was it freedom? The life he'd been snatched out of? His mother? Botan couldn't be sure, wouldn't be sure unless she ever got the chance to talk to him.

She allowed herself another minute of silent reverie, then strode upstairs to her bedroom. With all her homework finished and nothing else to do, Botan decided this would be a good time to open her window, take down a book and read a bit. As she crossed her room, a flash on the bed caught her attention. It was her cell phone, proclaiming she had one new voicemail. Window and book entirely forgotten, she walked back to her bed to examine her phone. Obscuring her wallpaper was the notice along with the options down in the left and right hand corners. Keiko had been with her all evening, Yusuke hardly ever called her, and Kuwabara rarely ever used his cell, so the only thing that left was that someone from work had called her.

Anxiety flooded her veins as she stared at the phone in her hands. Someone from the lab had called. Did that mean she had gotten on the Phoenix Project? Heart hammering away in her chest, Botan pushed the green button and held the phone up to her ear. There was a crackling noise followed by Hiro's voice.

_"Hey Botan, this is Hiro. Sorry to be calling so late. I just wanted to tell you that, congratulations, Koenma has agreed to put you in the Phoenix Project and that you're to report to his office tomorrow morning at nine o' clock sharp. Oh, and I'm also going to be your supervisor. Once again congratulations, and I will see you tomorrow. Bye." _

She had gotten on the Phoenix Project. She had actually gotten on the Phoenix Project! Unable to believe her stoke of good fortune Botan pinched herself. A brief flash of pain skittered up her arm telling her that, yes, she was indeed awake. A giddy smile spread across her face as she clapped her hands to her chest, still clinging to her phone. This was amazing! She couldn't wait for tomorrow!

Nine o' clock found Botan and Hiro standing in Koenma's office waiting to be given their instructions. The office owner in question however, had yet to show up. Hiro turned to Botan. He had taken his glasses off and had begun to polish the lenses on his lab coat.

"Well…here we are." He said, wishing Koenma would hurry up. It wasn't like him to be late, and Hiro was already nervous enough with Botan standing next to him.

Botan nodded back, bouncing up and down on her toes. She reminded Hiro of a little girl eagerly awaiting a reward or wonderful opportunity.

The door behind them opened and in stepped Koenma looking a trifle annoyed. He slid back into his cheerful self when he saw his aide and tech standing in his office ever so patiently. The annoyance on his face did not go unnoticed however because Botan spoke up.

"Is something wrong Koenma?" she asked, cocking her head to the side.

"Are you okay sir?" Hiro echoed.

"Yes, yes I'm fine. Don't worry about me." He said, taking a seat in the high backed green chair. Koenma folded his hands in front of him and fixed both Hiro and Botan with a level look before continuing.

"Now Botan today will be your first day on the Phoenix Project. I don't think I have to tell you this, but be extremely cautious. Not every experimental subject is apt to be complacent and willing to be worked upon," He then gestured to Hiro, "Of course that is why I have Hiro as your supervisor for the time being to monitor you while you work, along with providing help naturally."

Koenma sighed and drummed his fingers on the desk, trying to think of something else to add that would be beneficial. Botan's eyes were riveted upon him, ears and mind filling up with every word that had been said so far. Meanwhile, Hiro just watched and wondered why he had been called in at all. Back to Koenma, it was as if the floodgates had been opened, and a tidal wave of explanation and speech came rushing out of his mouth.

"As I have already said, today is your first day, so I won't overload you, but you can expect a little more work piled on, not at every turn mind you, but perhaps twice a month. Policy may require changes in the near future is all; and of course we must be moving forward in our goal. It is after all, what my father would be doing were he here."

There was an airy clap as Koenma brought his hands together.

"I'm babbling, my apologies. At any rate, the best advice I can offer you is, be cautious and expect the unexpected. Oh, and don't be afraid to report anything you see. Even seemingly pointless things turned up in lab can become monumental."

That done, Koenma rose from his chair to close his address. He clapped Botan on the shoulder as he did this, looking her straight in the eye.

"I have no doubt you will perform well Botan, but please, I cannot stress this enough, do be careful. Not every demon is as docile as the one down at the end of the hall."

How did he know about that? The confusion must have shown on her face, for Koenma chuckled.

"Hiro told me."

What? Her head snapped around to fix the aide with a sharp glare. Hiro, rather more of a sheep than a man, averted his gaze over to the nearby corner of the room. Oh yeah, she would give him a thorough questioning when this was through. The sound of a throat being cleared brought her back on track. She turned back to her boss.

"As I would be further inclined to have you and Hiro stay put for a little while longer so I can go over the various procedures you will be doing in detail, I'm afraid I'll have to let you go and find out for yourself. After all, seeing is believing, and practice makes perfect does it not?" Koenma laughed before noticing the weird look he was receiving from Botan.

"Sorry, just trying to be supportive."

Botan nodded and smiled. She then turned to Hiro who was standing by the door and glancing at it every few seconds, fearing what Botan would give him when they were out the door and out of ear-shot. Koenma smiled and turned Botan towards the door.

"Alright, we've wasted enough time standing around talking. Hiro, direct her to the east wing, and then you two can get started."

The two began heading for the door. Botan had stepped out into the hallway and Hiro was about to follow suit before Koenma's voice called him back.

"On second thought, wait a minute Hiro. There's something I would like to discuss with you. Botan see if you can find Ayame and have her show you to the east wing."

Head buzzing with information, Botan could only nod as Hiro was whisked back into the lab, not even able to offer so much as a mild protest.

With the door shut tight behind him, Koenma went back to his desk and once more took a seat in his chair. He placed three fingers on his forehead and closed his eyes for a moment to collect his thoughts. When he had finished, he looked up at Hiro. From his vantage point, the assistant director could tell his aide was worried, and he had good reason to be. If Koenma was acting like this, then something was wrong. After another moment of silence, Koenma let out a sigh, and then began to speak.

"Hiro, if you can I want you to have Botan avoid Karasu and Toguro at all costs. Mainly Karasu . I don't know what Toguro is planning at the moment, but I do know that he is using Karasu as a messenger, and that, unfortunately, he is more privy to the finer details of the Phoenix Project than myself. I'd hoped to be able to get some information from my father, but I've been unable to get to the hospital before the end of visiting hours. So, please, make sure that they have absolutely no contact with her. If it unavoidable, make sure it is limited. Two to three sentences of dialogue each between the two at the most."

Stunned, Hiro blinked a couple of times. Koenma didn't have all the details of the Phoenix Project? That made Hiro more nervous than ever; and frightened. What would that mean for Botan? Or him for that matter? _God forbid, _He thought, _that man's ambitions put this lab and anyone in danger. _ Hiro regarded Koenma. The slumped over position, that marble pallor of his skin, the circles under his eyes. If Hiro was frightened, then Koenma was don right terrified. Of course he had good reason to be. His father was no longer here, and Toguro, being a co-founder, held more power than he did. Surely however, this wasn't a no-win situation?

"Koenma sir, may I ask you something? Toguro isn't scheming to place the entire Phoenix Project under his control is he?"

"No, I've considered that option myself Hiro," Koenma replied, "If he wants to do anything regarding the Phoenix Project, he'll have to talk to my father, and that means going through me, which he is not apt to do. He may however, be able to bend things slightly without having to notify me, and that's why I'm worried. Moreover, I don't know to what extent we'll have to go to in order to carry out the Phoenix Project to its entirety. Knowing Toguro, he's not going to back down easily, and sadly I can't touch him without running into Karasu."

He looked up at Hiro, all air of dignity and power gone. Now all he appeared to be was a frightened young man with hardly any options left.

"Keep your eyes open. The only thing we can do now is sit back and observe. And please, I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Keep Botan away from both of them."

Hiro nodded. "Yes sir."

Endless white halls stretched on either side of her as Botan followed Ayame to the main lab area of the east wing. All around her were the various sounds of the lab. Machines beeping, people running back and forth, papers being shuffled, and the constant droning of many voices. Ayame led Botan past on open door wherein one man was peering into a microscope while the other scribbled down notes with the speed of the wind.

"I'm surprised the Koenma agreed to let you on the Phoenix Project." Ayame said, turning her head around and smiling.

Botan nodded back. Why did everyone seem to be saying that lately? Did news really travel that fast around here? Then again, she was the youngest worker here, but still. It didn't make any sense, not to her at least.

The sound of Ayame's heels clicking on the tiled floor accented the beat of the background noise enveloping the two. Botan's thoughts whirred inside her head at a frenzied pace. What exactly would she be doing once she got started? Would she be dealing with dangerous demons? How many demons here were like Kurama? What about Subject 0013? Was he or she still alive? Were there any female demons?

Unbeknownst to Botan, Ayame had stopped and was talking to a co-worker of hers, in fact, discussing the condition of Subject 0013. Unbeknownst until, Botan slammed right into the back of Ayame.

"Oops! I'm so, so sorry Ayame!" Botan exclaimed. Great, her first day on the job (so to speak) and she'd already flubbed it up. Ayayme turned around and smiled, assuring Botan she was fine. Embarrassed, Botan bubbled out a couple more apologies before falling silent. However, Ayame had turned back to talk to the person in front of her and had ceased to listen. With no one attention focused on her, Botan took the time to look around. Hallway, hallway, open door, multiple closed doors, people everywhere; no signs of a demon anywhere. Were they being tested on behind one of the closed doors surrounding her? It was possible, hell it was more than 80% likely. A tapping on her shoulder brought Botan's focus back on track. Ayame smiled and gestured to the man standing in front of her.

"Botan, this is Karasu. He's Director Toguro's aide. Karasu, this is Botan."

Immediately she didn't like him. Karasu held a strange air about him as he peered at her through opaque yet steely eyes. It almost seemed as if he was suspicious of her. He then smiled, although it did nothing to help the queer, goth like image of his face.

"Ah yes, this is the lovely lady I've heard about."

Somehow being called 'lovely lady' by him made her skin crawl. Karasu stretched out his hand. Not wanting to be impolite, she shook his it. Cool, clammy fingers closed around her own and long nails nipped the back of her palm. What was up with this guy? His pallor, his skin temperature, and that creepy aura, geez he very well could have passed for a corpse! He let her hand fall and Botan pulled it back a bit too quickly. If Karasu saw, he took no notice. He turned back to Ayame, smiling that creeper's smile once again.

"If you will excuse me, I must be getting back to work. Thank you for your report Ayame, keep the subject monitored, and let me know if anything unusual occurs."

Ayame nodded, "Yes, of course."

He waved as he walked off; his eyes passed from Ayame where they stopped dead on Botan.

"If you need anything Botan, please don't hesitate to come and ask me. I would be glad to help. Good day to the both of you."

A turn of the corner and he was gone. Oxygen swelled her lungs, letting her know that for that brief moment, she'd forgotten how to breathe. Help? _From him?_ No chance! Botan made herself a mental note to stay as far away from that creep as possible. Besides, Hiro was her supervisor, she would come to him if she needed anything.

Botan turned around and squared her shoulders trying her remove that shiver that was locked between her shoulder blades. Ayame took no notice of this and led her through the doorway that Karasu had been standing in.

Bright lights stabbed at her eyes. Shielding herself from the electrical attack, she took a formal look around the room. Various machines of every size stood up against the walls, testing tables with straps dangling from the sides stood near the center of the room, there were tables that held drawers upon drawers of equipment. Near the back a group of five scientists were examining an extract of skin cells from a lizard demon. All at once Botan felt lost in that sea of white room. It was as if she had been sleeping inside a rose bud, only to wake up and see it unfurl into a bright, new world. Ayame stood behind her, watching Botan take everything in, seeing her face light up with a mixture of confusion, awe, and wonder. She smiled.

"Botan, welcome to the Phoenix Project."

**Phew, finally! I thought I'd never come here. Thanks for being patient with me dear readers, I really appreciate it.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks to all who reviewed. Sorry it takes me so long to update.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, save for Hiro, my flighty, shy OC.**

* * *

Ayame smiled as she watched Botan take in her surroundings with child-like wonder. She stood back and leaned against the wall.

"Botan welcome to the Phoenix Project."

The words didn't even trigger the auditory nerve. Every sense save for sight had fled the moment the door opened. It was like being taken to the big city after living in a small town your whole life. So many things; the atmosphere was charged with scientific possibility. She scanned the area. No demons here. Maybe testing had yet to begin? Or perhaps it was conducted in another room. Behind her, a door banged open, and in rushed a frazzled and panting Hiro. He grabbed the door frame for support as he took a few moments to get his breathing back under control.

"Sorry about that Botan. So," he said, stepping inside, "what do you think of our little lab area?"

"I…I'm not sure. It certainly is quite large. Um…I guess the reasonable thing to say is…lets get to it."

They chuckled. Hiro led Botan to the far side of the room where they could observe their surroundings without being in the way. He pointed to the metal table with the leather straps dangling from the sides.

"I'm sure you've no doubt realized this, but that table is for transporting subjects both in and out of the lab area. Everything else, well, we'll get to that in due time."

He turned to her, and raised his hand, palm up, fingers slightly curled.

"Come, onto exploring more of this white, machine-filled labyrinth."

Botan giggled and took his hand. The two of them walked through an open doorway that led into a metal paneled room. To the left sat large hunks of metal, blinking at them with tiny, yellow and pink eyes. Various buttons of all sizes lay close to the screens that dominated seventy-five percent of the steel behemoth sitting beneath a large glass window stretching to each side of the room. Three scientists were sitting, observing the scene on the other side of the glass. Hiro led Botan over to the left side of the room and tapped one of the scientists sitting in the swivel chair. (Yay for swivel chairs!). The man turned around.

"Yes? Oh, hello, you must be our new crew member, I'm Keida Rikuyo." He said smiling. Hiro brought up his index finger.

"Actually, that's not why I wanted your attention. Have any results been colleted yet?"

"We're just about to start testing, if you care to watch Hiro."

"Certainly. Care to join me Botan?"

She nodded. What was the sense of being in here if she didn't watch any of the procedures? Keida turned around, and hit a microphone button.

"Alright, bring the subject in. Begin test on my word."

Peering through the large panel of glass, Botan could see that the floor of the room on the other side was far beneath them. If she had to wager a guess, she would have to say that the testing room went far beneath the first floor. After all, if when dealing with lethal test subjects, who could possibly break through a wall armored with two millimeters of lead, the ground floor would not be the most advisable area for a testing room. The walls and floor were as white as the driven snow. Nothing marred that vast expanse of blank room. No windows, no marks on either the floor or walls. There wasn't even anything to indicate where the door might be.

Just then, a piece of the wall slid back and ushered in by two scientists, one keeping a tight grip on a tranquilizer gun, was a heavily muscled demon. It stared blankly at its surroundings, as if it couldn't comprehend what it was doing there. A large bald head swiveled from side to side on a thick meaty neck. The muscles in its arms bulged as it flexed them, curling and uncurling its hands into fists. Botan felt a rush of relief that she and Hiro were way up on the second floor protected by a wall of thick glass. The demon sauntered into the center of the room, gazing blankly all the while. Both scientists looked at each other, nodded, then backed out of the room. One reached over to his right, hand disappearing from view, and hit a button causing panel swung back into place. It was as if they had never entered. After a few moments observing the demon, who was now sitting placidly on the floor, Keida pushed the microphone button again.

"Test subject in place. Send in the drones."

More panels opened, this time on the left side of the room. Four humanoid robots stalked in, heads moving from left to right before settling on their target. Three drones raised guns, the fourth raised its left arm. Welded into the steel, in place of a hand, was a sharp blade. The demon rose to its feet. The blank look had left its eyes, replaced with a cold, bloodthirsty glare. Hiro leaned in to get a better look.

"Here we go."

Time stopped. Nothing moved. The demon regarded its enemies, its brain sizing up and calculating each one through a combination of a complex network of instinct and basic knowledge. Binary code ran through each of the drones' computerized brains, communicating target information in the two digit language of computers. Then, one of the drones fired.

There was no warning. The demon was there, and then it wasn't. Everyone stared in surprise. Keida leaned forward, nearly pressing his face into the glass.

"Where did it-"

A drone head flew through the air and hit the glass. The clear shield trembled upon impact. Botan shrank back against Hiro.

"Don't worry. This glass is polycarbonate. It can withstand a lot of impact."

"Oh…right…" Botan mumbled, fixated on the carnage below.

Limbs flew off one by one. Arms, legs, extremities. Everything that could be hacked off was, and without mercy, flung to every corner of the room. None of the drones had a chance to defend themselves. In a short while, the only things left of them were the various piles of metallic body parts strewn about the room. Electricity crackled along exposed wires, hissing angrily at the enemy who had dared cut them, exposing their vulnerable metal coil beneath the rubber covering. Standing in the center of the robotic slaughter was the demon. Its face was a nightmare: Jagged teeth leered out from jet-black gums; eyes of baleful yellow smoldered in their sockets, trying in vain to burn what was left of its adversaries. The skin on its face seemed to be pulsing an ugly bright purple in contrast to the dark gray color of the rest of its body. Claws, of at least six inches in length, protruded from each bony digit. It surveyed the room, no longer looking like an innocent creature, but rather an insane beast that even the devil himself would fear. Once it saw that there were no more enemies, the claws retracted, the skin around its face returned to its original color along with its eyes, and it sat down on the floor. Motion from up above caught its eye, and it glanced up at the large window situated many feet above its head. The five humans on the other side tensed. What would this creature do? Would it fly into a rage? Was it strong enough to break through the glass? Five pairs of wide eyes regarded the demon sitting on the floor.

It smiled and waved.

A collective sigh of relief. Keida reached a slightly shaky finger towards the microphone button and gave it a final push.

"T-Test complete. Collect subject."

The door panel slid open and the two scientists ushered the demon out of the room. Pieces of metal still covered parts of the floor. Botan didn't see how anyone could get conclusive data from that mess. Machines began beeping as information poured in. Attention flew to the screens as numbers and words appeared. Hiro remained passive. Instead of the flighty young man Botan was used to seeing in the west wing of the lab. Here, his face hardened and became serious. This was a man she had to become used to, because everyone here was risking their lives doing their job, and a smile may trigger something deadly. Not that that would put a damper on Botan's cheerful disposition. Hiro looked down at the screen Keida was focused on.

"Time?"

"Three minutes and ten seconds sir."

"I swear, every time we do this test, it seems to get faster and faster."

"Maybe it's trying to go for some kind of world record."

Hiro chuckled. "I doubt it would ever make it into the books. What exact damage did the drones receive?"

"Basic wounds. Hacked off limbs, hands, feet, etcetera. Stunning thing is, they're all clean cuts, according to the data file."

"Amount of force with each blow?"

"Approximately forty-five pounds."

"Subject's heart rate before the test?"

"Forty beats per minute."

"After?"

"Sixty."

Hiro put a finger to his chin. "I see. So what you're saying here is that the subject didn't work up much of a sweat performing out there."

Keida looked up at Hiro. "Considering it took down four drones, each strong and fast enough to take out an army, in a little over three minutes, I'd say that's not surprising. I mean, we're not testing a human here. We're testing a creature with capabilities that exceed anything and everything we've thought a living body could do. Why, sir? What are you suggesting we do?"

"Let's try upping the ante shall we?"

"What do you mean sir?"

"Find a way to increase the strength of the drones. Our subject is getting faster, smarter, and better at each turn. We have to keep up."

"Yes sir." Keida replied with a nod. He turned back to the screen and hit a few buttons. Moments later, a few more white-clad employees came in and began cleaning up the mess. Botan turned to Hiro.

"What now?"

The stoic and serious face had disappeared. A golden smile shown from Hiro's face.

"We'll move on from here. There are some other areas that I want you to see."

She stared at him. The stern leader of operations and the light-hearted young man. Which was the real one? Doubts about the Phoenix Project began to collect in the back of her mind. They left the observation room and continued on into one of the many examination rooms. Microscopes and tables were the main object inhabitants. Employees milled about the room, examining slides and taking notes. Hiro led Botan over to a table in the back, gesturing to the lone microscope sitting atop the table.

"Here is where we observe results from what we call injection tests. Come, take a look."

Into the single lens she peered. Illuminated under the bright light and trapped by a hair thin piece of glass was a group of cells. Tiny red orbs floated through the contained area of liquid, skirting one another in their mindless meandering. Blood cells. She was viewing a sample of blood cells taken from one of the various demons here at the lab. A flicker of motion within the blood caught her attention. She switched lens power to 500x. The image jumped into stark clarity. The cells became much bigger and their new partners became visible as well.

They were hard to see on 100x due to their extremely small size, but on the strongest power level, they stood out sharply, Botan found herself taken aback by their ghastly appearance. Tiny, green, barb-like cells zipped through the blood with absolute precision, attaching themselves to random blood cells.

"Hiro? I think you might want to see this." Botan remarked, stepping back from the microscope. The aide stepped forward and peered into the microscope. As soon as the vision came into focus, he leapt back, stunned. Botan stared at him.

"Are you alright?"

At first he didn't answer. Instead he stared at the table, hands braced on either side of him, eyes wide with fascination. Botan stepped closer.

"Hiro? Is something wrong?"

"…Amazing. Simply amazing. The virus is bonding with the cells. The _body_ is mutating the virus, reshaping it, configuring it to the demon's hardwiring. Fascinating!"

Soft hands placed themselves over one of Hiro's own. The physical contact brought him out of his reverie and he found himself staring directly into Botan's eyes; her face bare centimeters from his own.

"What did you see?" Botan asked, giving his hand a hard squeeze. All that Hiro noticed was how close the two of them were. His glassed slipped down the bridge of his nose, producing a half-clear half-fog image of Botan's face.

"Hiro? Are you in there?"

Botan leaned closer. The effect of her breath ghosting over his lips brought him back. Like he had been lit on fire, he leapt up and back. A few mutterings could be heard flowing from his mouth, but nothing discernable. Botan waited patiently for him to get over his hormones. When he had finally calmed down, he pushed his glasses back up and began to explain.

"We isolated a virus in our lab, and tweaked it a little. Basically, we made it stronger, nearly impossible for a demon to fight off. Instead of the results I was expecting, this demon seems to be bonding with the virus. Changing the disease into some sort of biological enhancer."

"What kind of virus?"

"Just a strain of influenza which we altered."

"What sort of information were you hoping to gain from that?"

" What were are aiming for here," Hiro replied, "is utilizing this demonic ability and placing it into humans. Imagine the how the world would look if the most contagious virus, one that mutates on its won every year, were to become ineffective. Vaccinations would be pointless and those with compromised immune systems would have no reason to worry. In short, we're seeing how the result found here can be used to improve human quality of life."

That made sense. But why would Libra want to use the blood of a demon who could bond with the virus? Wouldn't they want a subject who could annihilate the virus? She thought of mentioning this, but clamped her mouth shut when she realized such questions would get her nowhere. The two of them conversed for a little bit. After all was said and done, and the findings made note of, Hiro led her out of the room and into another part of the lab.

Time passed and soon they ended up in the corridor where the demons were housed. As she stood there, staring at all the closed doors, Botan had a sense of things coming full circle.

"One of the jobs that you'll find yourself doing alongside me is going down this hall everyday, checking the condition of the demons we keep here." Hiro explained. "If there is any change, report it . If not, don't bother. However…"

Hiro looked towards the fifth door down on the left. The lock had been changed recently and now chains had been fastened on the outside of the door, barring the resident form any possible means of escape. A piece of the wall near the door had been modified so that it would slide back, becoming a peephole of sorts. Hiro pointed towards that door.

"If you see a door like that, or one that has the sliding panel near the door, don't even bother. Let me deal with it."

Suppressing a shiver, Botan stared at the door that now looked more like a holding cell for the criminally insane than a simple room.

"What's wrong with the demon that's behind that door?"

"I'm afraid I don't know. It may have gone mad, or it's in a rebellious stage right now. Either way, if it keeps this up, it'll have to be terminated." Hiro sighed. "I know how both Toguro and Koenma hate to lose such valuable research assets, but that is one of the orders given to us, and it's only natural that if we can't get close to the subject to do even a minor test, then it's of no use to us."

"Wouldn't it be better to just release them back into the area where they came from?"

Hiro shook his head. "Think about what we're dealing with here Botan. These aren't simple-minded animals. These are creatures as intelligent as you and I and perhaps even more. They'll remember what went on here, and in the state they're in, it wouldn't be much of a surprise if they tried to get some sort of revenge and start killing humans. It's best if we just dispose of them."

Botan nodded. If the chains on the door were any good indication, she could see why the lab had taken such extreme measures to confine the subject. The demon she had seen in the combat test was one thing, but that demon had been sane. If an insane demon was able to get free…

Her hair beat as her face as she whipped her head from side to side. No sense thinking about that now. Best just to keep up with Hiro and get her first day over with. Tomorrow was Saturday and that meant all day at the lab working with demons, so she'd better get used to her environment and keep a tight leash on her imagination.

"Botan?"

She looked up at the sound of her name. Hiro stood in front of the second door to her right, hand on the knob.

"Yes?"

"Are you alright?"

She nodded.

"Okay. If you want to come with me you may."

"Sure." She said trailing after him.

On the other side of the door was a plain white room. The only furnishings were a bed and a small table. Far off in the corner lounged a demon. It stirred upon their entrance, but did not do much. It simply sat and watched them with wary eyes. Hiro took five steps into the room, no more. The demon leaned back against the wall, smirking.

"What's this? The big, bad guy in the white coat is afraid of me now?"

He chuckled. The two of them had a stare-off for a moment before the demon took notice of Botan. His eyes lit up with disgusting desire.

"Well now, did the boy's downstairs decided to bring me some entertainment? Interesting. I should thank them. Hey babe, how ya doing?"

Hiro moved to stand directly in front of Botan, blocking her from the demon's view.

"She isn't food, nor is she your playmate.. She is my assistant, and this is her first day on the job," Hiro shot a threatening glare at the demon, "you will be respectful towards her. I don't think I need to inform you of what happens to demons who try to advance upon the staff."

The demon waved a hand nonchalantly.

"Yeah, yeah whatever. Just get on with your questioning, if you need to. My answers are just going to be the same as last time anyway."

"Good. Let's get started." said a smiling Hiro.

Forty minutes later, the two of them stood out in the hall. Leaning against one of the many doors, Hiro pushed his glasses up and sighed. They had questioned a few other demons in the hall, and like the first, had received little, if any answers, to Hiro's regular questioning. Botan stared down the corridor. There were so many, how were she and Hiro going to check the status of all the demons in just a few short hours?

As if sensing her inquiry, Hiro spoke up. "There are very few demons we can do this on. Most of them either absolutely refuse us, or…try to eat us. That's one of the reasons you see doors with chains and sliding panels here and there. Only specially marked personnel can get into those rooms, so don't concern yourself with it."

Hiro checked his watch, then cast a glance at the door down at the end of the hall.

"Hey, Botan?"

The blue-haired girl looked up upon hearing her name.

"Yes?"

"Since I have to leave in a few minutes, would you mind taking care of the demon at the end of the hall? Subject 0119?"

Botan was taken aback a bit Hiro didn't know Kurama's name? With as kind as Kurama was, Botan would have thought that, at the very least, Hiro knew his name. Hiro must have caught her strange look for he cocked his head to the side.

"Something wrong?"

"Oh, it's just that I never knew his number before. Makes me wonder how many we have here."

"No idea." Hiro responded with a shrug, "anyway, I can count on you?" he asked, handing her the clipboard filled with pages of notes taken on the other demons they had collected data from. Botan took it from him and examined the sheet of paper. Upon the blank sheet was a chart with the words 'Subject 0119' written up top. Beneath the title, she could see Hiro's spider-scrawl telling of Kurama's health for the past week. His condition seemed normal; no side-affects from last week's tests. All around perfect. Botan saluted Hiro in mock-army fashion.

"Yes sir, you can count on me."

Hiro nodded.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Yep, see you!" Botan called to her co-worker's retreating form.

When she was sure Hiro had left, Botan turned around and began walking to the end of the hall. Her steps were even and echoed down the hall, bouncing off the floor and walls like an invisible ping-pong ball. About seventy steps later, she had reached her destination. A sudden nervousness overcame her. Wait, why was she nervous? Kurama wouldn't eat her, he wouldn't try to rape her; she was safe. That was probably one of the reasons Hiro had decided to late Botan question him because Kurama was docile and wouldn't hurt a fly. Still, it didn't help to drive away the colony of butterflies that had gathered in her stomach.

Rotating the knob to the right, she opened the door and stepped into the room. Nothing had changed. It was still the same as when she had accidentally stumbled in there a few days ago. The only difference was that instead of out on the balcony, Kurama was sitting cross-legged on the bed, reading a book. He looked up when he heard the distinctive sound of the door being opened. His eyes widened a bit in surprise when he saw not the usual aide that came here, but instead the bubbly blue-haired girl who had wandered into his cage a scant few nights ago. Kurama glanced at the page, marking the spot in his mind, and put the book down on the ivory bed spread, attention focused on the girl standing in the doorway. He smiled, beaming warmth at the confused young human.

"You can come in. Unlike everyone else here, I don't bite."

Botan nodded, stepping inside. She was mindful to shut the door behind her. She walked over to the bed and sat down beside Kurama, whipping out clipboard and pen.

"Now, Subject 0119, there are a few things I would like to ask you. First-" Botan broke off when she realized that the demon beside her was trying hard not to snicker, and failing quite miserably at that. Irritation bled pink under her skin. Her hands made a hobby out of bunching the sheets up beneath slowly clenching fists as she glared at him.

"What's so funny 0119?"

He coughed in order to get his near-laughter under control. When said feat had been accomplished, she gave her an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, it's just that you're acting so professional, which strikes me as out of character for you."

"And how would you know about my character?"

"Who had to tie his bed sheets together because someone was too scared to go back down the hallway?"

Embarrassed, Botan leapt up off the bed, glaring at him.

"That's an entirely different thing altogether!"

"So you say Miss…hey, I never caught your name. What is it?"

Botan folded her arms across her chest. "Oh, so you think that by poking fun at me, you'll get me to reveal my name?"

"Okay, okay, I really am sorry," Kurama said, holding up his hands in a gesture of defeat. Satisfied that she had won, Botan sat back down on the bed and extended her hand.

"Botan, and I believe you told me your name was Kurama?"

He nodded. Botan smiled.

"Okay now, let's begin. Your health is…"

"Good, nothing to report there."

"Alright then," Botan said scribbling down the information on the chart, "Any disturbing mental patterns over the week? Black-outs, inexplicable bouts of rage, etcetera?"

"No."

"Hallucinations, or any other visionary issues?"

"None."

"Strange things going on with your demonic powers? A.K.A. total lack of strength, overabundance of power supply, new abilities that you've never had before?"

Kurama shook his head.

And so it went for a few more minutes. After everything on the chart had been filled out Botan laid down the clipboard and pen. She sat there for a minute or so, worrying her bottom lip. Finally, when her own questions became too many in number, she spoke up.

"Hey, Kurama?"

He cocked his head to the side at the sudden transition from test number to personal name.

"Hm?"

"You um…well you…" This was going nowhere. Taking a deep breath, Botan started over. "You're the only demon here that's not deemed a dangerous. Why is that? Why are you so complacent?"

Silence stretched between the two for what seemed like ages. After a while, the taut thread snapped and Kurama spoke;

"Well, I guess the main reason here is that, since I was young, this lab had been the only thing I've known. I've grown up being a test subject, and I've just gotten used to it."

"Did you have a family?"

"Yes, a human mother. She died when I was young. Very soon after her death, the scientists from Libra brought me here. Why all these questions? I don't think they're a part of the chart."

"No, I'm just curious."

Kurama put a finger to his cheek and smiled. "I see. So, what about you?"

"Well…" Botan began, trailing off as she remembered her own family. In all reality, she barely knew her father, and had next to no contact with any of her outlying relatives. This however, had been of her own choosing. She had grown up in the house she lived in, and there were just too many memories to leave behind. It had pained her aunt very much to see her favorite niece choose to live alone in that gloomy, empty house, but as long as Botan kept smiling, it put everyone's fears at ease.

"Like you, my mother's dead too. My father also died when I was very young, although I'm not sure what he died from. My mother died a few months back when she was driving home from here. It was winter and her car hit a patch of black ice, causing her to slam into the guard rail. They said she had been killed on impact."

"I see. So in a way, we're alike."

"What makes you say that?"

"Think about it. We both lost our mothers and through that loss, became tied to this lab. Me as a test subject, and you as a scientist."

"Lab tech." Botan corrected him, "I'm not old enough, and I have yet to graduate high school."

"Ah, my mistake."

"It's okay."

The two of them sat in silence for a little bit. Each one looking somewhere else than at the person in front of them. With the reel of conversation gone, an awkward air enveloped the room, stifling the occupants until Kurama cleared his throat in vain effort to banish the silence. On cue, Botan stood up, clipboard in hand.

"Well, I guess I should be going now."

"Oh, that's now why I-"

Botan waved a hand, "I know, I know, but still, I should be heading out anyway. I've got to get home and all that, you know."

Kurama nodded.

As Botan made her way towards the door, Kurama's voice paused her feet.

"Stupid question, but you were accepted onto the Phoenix Project correct?"

"Yep! First day today!"

"I guess that means we'll be seeing a lot more of each other then. I look forward to it."

Something in his tone made her wheel around. Was it gratitude? Happiness? Or false sincerity? She stared at him, mouth pulled down in a frown of confusion.

"I'm sorry, but could you elaborate?"

Tiny bits of scarlet glowed on Kurama's cheeks as he offered her a sheepish smile.

"It's just that…you're the first person I've actually been able to have an extended conversation with in the ten years since I was brought here. I like that."

"Don't you talk with Hiro?"

"No," Kurama replied, shaking his head, "he asks the necessary questions, fills out the chart, bids me good day, then leaves." He sighed. "It's nice to be able to read and sit outside sometimes. I mean, I'm the only one here who has these luxuries, well being able to be outside anyway, but there's nothing that can replace a good bout of conversation with another living person."

Feeling a pang of sympathy, Botan nodded. She knew how it felt to be lonely and starved for companionship within one's living quarters. The number of nights she had sat, alone in the house, just staring off into the darkness of the gathering shadows weighed on her. Each day, she found herself more and more, wishing for someone else in the house, simply to get her away from her own thoughts. Loneliness is never a fun thing to experience, and Botan, still sitting on a horse of that depressing merry-go-round, knew exactly how Kurama felt.

"Hey, tell you what," She said smiling, "I'll be here tomorrow, so if I can, I'll come see you after I'm finished with everything and we an sit together and talk. How does that sound?"

At first, he didn't respond and Botan thought she'd somehow offended him. Then, his lips spread back into a soft, butter-melting smile. Green eyes glowed approval at Botan's proposal.

"That…sounds wonderful. I'd like that, very much."

Botan grinned, "Alrighty then, I'll see you tomorrow!"

Kurama nodded and watched her leave.

* * *

Outside, in the hallway, Botan zipped down the corridor, checking the clipboard on her way to the second floor to make sure she hadn't missed anything. When she reached Koenma's office, she noticed yet another note tacked to the door. Koenma had left early again to go see his father in the hospital. Botan sighed in agitation. She had wanted to give him a first day report as he had insisted, but…great just great! Oh well, no sense getting into a ten foot hover. Luckily, Koenma had an inbox hanging on the wall to the right of his office door. Botan slipped the charts into the inbox, then made her way downstairs, shrugging off her lab coat. Now, it was time to go home and relax with a nice cup of tea!

Meanwhile, Kurama sat on his bed, trying to make sense of the emotions swirling about in his heart. It felt strange. This girl, whom he'd just met a few days ago, had just brought him the greatest form of happiness he could have asked for. Kurama smiled. So he'd made a friend. He could live with that.

* * *

Tiny green and red lights from the medical equipment in the room prodded the darkness with gentle fingers, nor daring to fully banish it from the room. That was the job for the much bigger, much brighter fluorescents. Koenma sat in a chair by his father's bed. Enma Sr. was sleeping, the only sound in the room other than his soft, slow breathing was the heart monitor, beeping every minute or so. With the air of gloom that hung around him, Koenma might as well have a part of the shadows that shrouded the hospital room. In the pocket of his jeans sat the letter Karasu had given him that morning. He had since opened it, only to be disturbed and shocked at the contents of the letter. No sooner had he finished reading, he had been out the door, desperate to confront his father.

Unfortunately, when he had gotten to the reception desk, the nurse running it informed him that his father had had a lapse, and in order to prevent further damage, the doctor had given Enma some medicine that would put him under until tomorrow. However, she told him, Koenma was welcome to sit with his father until visiting hours were over. He thanked the nurse, and had made a hasty dash upstairs, hoping beyond all hope that the nurse had been mistaken, and he could be able to talk to his father.

No luck. One look at the mass of piled sheets on the bed had confirmed his fears. The nurse was indeed correct. Two separate fears resided in Koenma's heart. One, was that his father would continue to have these lapses, resulting in an inevitable death; two was concerning the letter.

A heavy sigh seeped from Koenma's mouth and into the surrounding air. Sad, brown eyes looked at the sleeping image of the once strong, feared, and respected man, Koenma's hand reached out and clasped one of his father's. He had to smile. Even in his twenties, Koenma's hand still managed to be devoured by his father's large, semi-hairy paw. Seemed he did take after his mother after all. Koenma sighed again.

"Please dad, I'm begging you, get well soon."

His only answer was the occasional beeping of the heart monitor. On a whim, the assistant director's mind drifted to Botan. What was going to happen to her? Heaviness weighed on Koenma's heart as he realized just how bleak the situation looked if his father did not come out of this. He cast one final look to his father, squeezing the man's hand.

"Please…we're all counting on you. Please…"

* * *

**Phew! Sorry, sorry, sorry for the long wait! I didn't mean to end the chapter on such a sad note, sorry again. Oh, and what was in the letter you ask? Well, you'll just have to wait for the next chapter** **for that one. Anywho, read and review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey readers, and welcome to chapter six. I'd like to thank all who reviewed, you guys make this possible. Thanks.**

**Disclaimer: Is this really an issue? We all know I don't own it.**

* * *

"Are you sure it was wise instructing me to give him that letter?"

Toguro looked up from a lab report. His aide, Karasu, stood in front of his desk, examining the man who sat behind the large slab of oak. In contrast to Enma/Koenma's office, the co-director's office was rather dreary. The walls and floor were as white as a dead man's skin. No pictures or various items adorned the desk. There were bookshelves, but it was safe to assume their contents had not been touched for a while. Regarding his aide behind the sunglasses he always wore, Toguro put the lab report down and laced his hands under his chin.

"Enma's time is coming to an end. Koenma has been getting far too ahead of himself. That boy needs to be put in his proper place before he takes things out of hand."

"And you're not worried about him trying to fight you for control?"

Silence lingered in the room. Karasu stood patiently in front of the desk, awaiting his superior's answer. He knew that Toguro was not searching for an answer, but rather deciding whether he should speak or not. The issue of the Phoenix Project was a sensitive one, and not just to Koenma. Everyone in the entire lab was concerned about it. Barring the fact that, to some it was controversial on more than just one subject, it was also a major liability issue. More times than one cared to count had someone been injured or nearly killed while working. After a moment, Toguro laid his hands down flat upon his desk, and looked Karasu straight in the eye. The aide did not flinch, but met his superior's gaze.

"There won't be a problem. Koenma is headstrong yes, but he yields to his father's orders."

A poisonous smile spread across his face until it flowed sickeningly from ear to ear.

"Just like a faithful dog, Koenma cannot disobey his master."

Karasu nodded. "I see sir." And with that, he turned and left the office.

Toguro leaned back in his chair. No, Koenma would not go against his dear old dad's wishes, Toguro was sure of it. And if he tried…

Well, let's just say, he'd have quite the competition going on.

* * *

Botan's stomach growled. Great, now how was she supposed to focus on the test when all she could think about was her empty stomach? _Just try to bear with it Botan, lunch will be in a few minutes. You've only got a few questions left ,so just hang in there. _Easier said than done. As she calculated her way down to the last question, her stomach once again made its needs known, much to her disdain. Mentally, she shushed the problematic organ and prayed that no one else around her had heard. She looked back at her test paper. Crap, how was she supposed to solve that mess of numbers? 'Find x' the directions told her. Sure, if she knew what the heck she was doing! Seriously, why did the problem even have brackets? And fractions? Really? Those weren't in the study guide packet! Darn that Kisaragi-sensei, putting things down that they had not even-

"Botan? Aren't you finished with your test?"

Pink eyes floated up to find out the owner of the voice. Kisaragi-sensei looked down at Botan, curiosity and concern marring her pretty features. The teacher's head was directly above her desk, blocking out the bright glare from the fluorescents. Botan stared back at her instructor, at a loss for words. Then, speech descended on golden little wings, sinking itself into her brain, giving back her often over-used ability.

"Oh, yeah. Just one last question to go! Sorry if I'm taking so long." She said, chuckling. Lovely, now the teacher was confronting her! Could this morning get any worse? She had already been late to school, had tripped over her own feet walking into class, _in front _of the whole class, and now she couldn't even finish her math test on time! God, Mondays sucked!

Kisaragi-sensei stood up, revealing the harsh light behind her (Botan had to shield her eyes from the sudden optical assault) and smiled.

"Alright, I was just getting a little worried. The bell rang a couple of minutes ago, I thought that you might want to get to lunch before it was over."

What? Lunch? _Now? _She missed the jump-start of the opportunity to get food? Yep, this was definitely shaping up to be a typical Monday. In a flash, Botan wrote down a random number for x, tossed the paper at her teacher, grabbed her things, and zipped out the door; her stomach cheering her on all the while.

Sounds of talking, utensils clicking, and chairs shuffling swelled and merged into a pitch-varied hum as Botan zipped into the cafeteria, obento from her locker clutched in her hand. It didn't take her long to pick out her friends, and like an experienced sea-captain churning through stormy waters, she navigated through the maze of bodies, chairs, and tables. Keiko smiled at Botan as she pulled up a seat next to Kuwabara. Yusuke quirked an eyebrow.

"Hey, what took you so long? We were getting worried about you."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Botan replied, sitting down, "I blanked on the last few minutes of my test. I didn't realize so much time had passed."

"It's okay. Lunch is only a quarter of the way over anyway."

"So," Keiko asked as Botan pulled out a chair and sat down, "how was your weekend?"

Botan paused before answering. Her weekend? Her weekend had been great, nothing bad had happened. However, it was not a lack of events that stilled her tongue, but the events themselves. Although the tests turned up no new results as of yet, she had gone after hours and talked with Kurama. The highlight of her day, she had left his cage with a beaming smile on her face. Afterward, she and Hiro had stopped by a tea house and chatted for a little while over the last week's findings of the demon binding and mutating a virus. But she couldn't tell Keiko all that; so she told her all that she could, peppy smile placed ever so carefully about her face.

"My weekend was good. Hiro and I stopped at a tea house after work and chatted for a little bit. Other than that, things were pretty quiet."

"Who's Hiro?" Kuwabara asked.

Botan waved her hand, "Oh he's just someone I work with."

"What does he do?" Yusuke asked.

"Uh…well…he does…stuff…related to the lab…" Oh joy! Now she was being questioned about the lab. About the very information she was not supposed to divulge. _To anyone. _Botan floundered, trying to get the subject off her co-worker and the lab. Her friends would not budge.

"What kind of stuff?" Keiko asked, chin resting on her hands. Botan sighed and hung her head.

"I can't tell you."

Silence reigned for a few minutes as three pairs of eyes stared at their friend. The room-temperature air heated up a bit as Keiko let the tiniest hint of aggravation infect her tone.

"What do you mean you can't tell us?"

Kuwabara and Yusuke remained silent, more curious than angry. Only Keiko seemed perturbed. Botan looked at her best friend as earnestly as she could. She couldn't help the shadow of guilt that passed over her heart, but what choice had she? What went on in Libra was top-secret. The fact that demons existed alone, would throw the whole public into panic. Botan loved her friends, would die for them if she had to, but she also loved her job, and would not open her mouth to lose it. She sighed.

"The things Libra does are top-secret and cannot be revealed by anyone at the lab. What I told you earlier about how Libra is the pursuit of medical science, in where we seek to improve to overall health of humanity is all I can tell you. In fact, that may even be too much. I'm sorry guys, if I could, I'd tell you all in a heartbeat, but I can't."

"So you're keeping secrets?" Keiko asked. Botan stared back, stunned.

"What? No! Well, not secrets per say, but it's information I can't tell you and-"

Keiko got up and pushed in her chair. "Never mind Botan." And with that, she turned, dumped her tray, and left the cafeteria. Botan sank down in her seat, and put her head down on the table. Now she felt worse than guilty, she felt downright rotten. She had not meant to make Keiko angry, but what could she do? Botan whimpered, she felt horrid. Yusuke put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry Botan, she's just been really worried about you for the past week, and she's just not used to you keeping her out of the loop is all. She'll come around. Don't worry."

"But Yusuke, I feel so horrible. I didn't mean to make her mad, it's just-"

"We know Botan," Kuwabara interrupted, "and Keiko does too. Like Urameshi said, she's just worried about you. In fact, we all are."

Botan looked at the orange-haired boy, perplexed. For what reason would they be worrying about her?

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't know what you mean."

"You've been spacey and quiet. That's not like you. Whenever we ask you, you just smile and say that your job's running you ragged. Out of the three of us, Keiko's the most worried. She knows there's something you're not telling us, and it's really getting to her."

For the longest time, Botan sat there, head down, face blank. It showed? That much? Her friends were beginning to worry? A heavy sigh heaved forth from her lungs. She needed more practice on being stoic.

"Alright then," she said, standing up. Yusuke began spluttering out words.

"No, no Botan, we're not saying this is your fault! In fact, we weren't even blaming you, we were just-"

"I know Yusuke." Botan interrupted, pushing her chair in, "but I can still go apologize to Keiko can't I? I kind of feel like she deserves it." Bidding her friends a quick goodbye, Botan turned on her heel, and raced out of the cafeteria. Her footsteps echoed in the halls, her surroundings dead silent. Left, right, left right, the only things she could spot on either side of her were classrooms that she knew for a fact Keiko would not be in. Finally, near the end of the hall, Botan came across the girls' restroom. A logical place if there was any. Botan pushed open the door and stepped in.

Water ran into an crème-colored sink, splattering the sides with tiny, clear droplets. Keiko stood at the sink, splashing water onto her face. She looked up upon hearing the entrance of another person. When she saw who it was standing before her, she didn't move for a moment. Then, as if in a trance, she slowly reached out and turned off the water. She also turned her head back to her reflection and gazed at it with a rather blank look. Not a word fell from Botan's lips; she waited for her friend to speak. After the greedy, slurping sounds of the drain had faded, Keiko took a breath.

"I'm sorry. I realize that I had no right to be angry with you. Well, as angry as I was anyway. But you're really worrying me Botan. You never talk about yourself much, and since you've started working at the lab, you haven't talked about yourself at all, or anything relating to your life for that matter. For such an open person, you seem to be keeping quite a number of skeletons in your closet. At least, it seems that way to me."

Keiko didn't look away from the mirror, and for a while, Botan remained silent. She knew Keiko was right. She was indeed keeping a surprising number of skeletons in the closet for someone with her kind of personality. She could feel her mind becoming entangled within the web of secrets and lies that had been spun out over the weeks, months, and years, and not just by her. Her mother, her co-workers, and even her boss had been telling her lies. A few days ago, she found herself thrust into the middle of the web, unintentionally breaking it apart, and had marveled at the red spider she'd seen sitting there, smiling at her. Unlike her mother, who had gotten used to the idea of working with demons in very short order, for Botan, it still delivered quite a shock to the system. However, Keiko, Yusuke, and Kuwabara weren't the only ones being kept out of the loop; Hiro was being kept from some information as well. So far, no one knew about her after-hours visits to Kurama, and hopefully, no one would.

Feeling the weight of watchful eyes upon her, she focused her vision to find Keiko now looking at her head on. While the expression on her face did not change, her eyes held a small spark of determined flame.

"It's just that I don't want you drifting away from us," Keiko continued, "you're my best friend. And to me, it feels like that lab you work at is pulling you away from me."

Botan smiled. It seemed she was not the only one feeling lonely. She walked over and laid her hand on Keiko's shoulder. Her gaze sought her friend's eyes, and Keiko had to turn her head to avoid being blinded by the warm light that flowed from Botan's face. Botan pulled Keiko into an embrace, so she could better burn the words she spoke into her best friend's mind; and so she could prevent herself from running away from the truth.

"I'm the one who should be sorry Keiko. It's just that I've had to make some pretty big adjustments lately, and I'm still reeling from them. But remember: I'm your friend first, and a lab tech at Libra second. If I have something that I need to talk to you about, and I can talk to you about it…trust me. I will come to you. That's a promise."

She let go of Keiko and stood back, observing the other girl's reaction. Keiko didn't turn to face Botan, but the bluenette thought she could detect a faint smile adorning her friend's lips. Also, the tension in the air had disappeared, leaving where they were standing an ordinary bathroom once more. The muted ticking of watch hands brought Botan back to the world, and she glanced down at her watch. She went for the door, but stopped with her hand braced against the wooden surface. Keiko had turned away from the mirror and was watching Botan, but that was all. Botan smiled.

"Since lunch is almost over, I'm going to head on to class. You're welcome to join me if you like. But judging by the look on your face, I'm thinking you're going to want to stay here for a few more minutes to think things over."

"Botan?"

The tone of Keiko's voice was different. Instead of the confident tone of someone who carried herself very well, Keiko sounded like a frightened child, alone and lost in a deep, dark forest. Botan regarded her.

"Yes?"

"If you wanted to talk to me, but it involved what you're doing at the lab…would you still talk regardless?"

At a loss for words, Botan stared at Keiko. Would she tell her? And if she did, what would Keiko say? After a few minutes of silence, Botan looked down.

"I don't know."

She walked out of the bathroom, leaving Keiko to ponder her response.

* * *

Koenma sat at his desk, head down, shoulders slumped. To the uninformed eye, the assistant director appeared to be tired. But Hiro, who had worked with Koenma for a good few years, knew better than that. He closed the door behind him and took a few quiet steps toward Koenma, afraid that just the simple noise of his footfalls would break the man in front of him. He looked down at his supervisor. This man, who held such a commanding presence within the lab, whose strength had guided many a scientist at Libra, whom many depended upon and revered, was slowly disintegrating in front of him. Hiro took another tentative step forward.

"Koenma sir?" he asked, edging closer to Koenma's desk. Koenma brought his head up. He looked ragged. Dark purple circles hung underneath his eyes, his pallor, although not deathly white, was white enough to alarm Hiro. He appeared, for all the world, as if his very soul had been sucked out of him. The corners of Koenma's lips twitched upward in a wraith-like smile.

"Yes, Hiro? What is it?"

"Well I was just….I was wondering…" Hiro trailed off. Koenma's appearance was more than alarming. It down right scared the aide. He stopped bumbling and sighed. "Koenma sir, you look awful. If I may be permitted to know, what happened to you?"

For the longest time, Hiro received no answer. Those dull, listless eyes rolled off of him to various other areas around the office before settling back on the inquirer. Koenma heaved a sigh, and pushed himself up off his desk and sat back in his chair. This action did not improve his appearance. Hiro watched what difficulty his boss had just to perform this simple action alone. Koenma ran a hand through his hair, took a breath, and let yet another sigh sail out from his parted lips. His other hand dug around in his white coat pocket. He wasn't looking at Hiro. After a few minutes of fishing, he produced a tri-folded letter. He thrust the paper at Hiro.

"Read this."

Curious, Hiro took the letter from Koenma and began to read.

_Koenma, _

The name was written in a very elegant script. Just from the handwriting alone, Hiro's heart froze. If Toguro was behind this, there was nothing good to come. He clenched his fist and began to read. As his eyes passed over more and more words, his heart sank deeper and deeper into the pit of his stomach.

_I apologize to be sending a letter of a somber subject such as this to you, but I fear the matter cannot be avoided. We must move forward in the Phoenix Project. We cannot afford to wait for a dying man to make a miraculous recovery. _

_I also understand you are not privy to all the details of the Phoenix Project. In order to make up for that, I will submit to you a full summary of the objective behind the Phoenix Project. In the meantime, I request that everything be put under my jurisdiction. I.E., until you have the full information, I will be in control. If you wish to argue this matter, then converse with your father. This was his wish, should anything befall him. However, we must be swift in moving onto the second stage; as I said earlier, we cannot afford to wait for a man on his death-bed. If you have questions (which I am sure you do) consult with my aide, Karasu._

_-Toguro_

That slimy, weasel bastard! Hiro ground his teeth to avoid crumpling the letter in his hands. How dare he so slyly snatch control! And how could Enma do that? Why in hell would he give such a dangerous, unstable man control of an operation that the fate of the entire lab hung on? What had Enma been thinking? Hiro handed the letter back to Koenma, mind near to bursting with a thousand questions, but mouth dutifully sewn shut. After all, what good would questioning Koenma do? For all intents and purposes, Koenma knew about as much as he did as to what Toguro was thinking. Or Enma for that matter.

Koenma re-folded the letter and placed it within a desk drawer. Hiro watched Koenma as the assistant director folded his hands underneath his chin and looked off into the far corner of the room. The lifeless, blank gaze had been replaced by a wet gleam of utter hopelessness and despair. After a moment, Koenma looked down at his desk.

"What do we do now, Hiro?"

Koenma was asking him? As if he knew what to do! He was just as dumbstruck as Koenma at this point. Hiro fiddled with his collar before answering as best he could.

"To be honest sir, I'm not sure. I think the best approach for now would be to appease Toguro, then go and consult with your father. It could be that Toguro was bluffing when he said that it was your father's wish that he would gain control if something befell him. As for what to do right now…I'm at just as much of a loss as you are, sir."

Silence took over. Hiro continued to gaze at Koenma, unsure if he had heard anything his aide had been saying. Then, Koenma stood up, shoved in his chair, and rushed for the door. Hiro followed Koenma.

"Sir? Are you okay?" Hiro questioned, concern raising his voice a couple decibels. Koenma turned back to his aide, hand wrapped around the doorknob. He let go, and grabbed Hiro by the shoulders and pulled him in close. Such strange contact from his boss made the aide freeze up in a matter of seconds. Koenma's eyes glittered with a cold determination. He narrowed them as he brought Hiro in closer.

"Hiro, do you remember what I said about Botan getting near Karasu and Toguro?"

Hiro nodded, still shocked by their close proximity. Koenma continued, unfazed by the man's uncomfortable look.

"Stick to that order. If possible, don't let her out of your sight for a moment. She's relatively knew to the Phoenix Project, and mark my words, Toguro will try to use her. I'm not sure how, but I know he will. Promise me Hiro, you will not let them within a five foot radius of her. Even more if you can prevent it."

Hiro nodded again. Koenma smiled and let him go. Once Hiro had his coat straightened out, he asked Koenma,

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to see my father. I want this mess cleared up."

Without another word, Koenma turned on his heel, and strode away. Hiro wished the man luck. He would be needing it.

* * *

Toguro watched from his office window as a frazzled Koenma sped away from the lab and down the road, no doubt heading straight towards to hospital. The behemoth's mouth split into a grin so wicked, the devil himself would have turned in fright. He turned back to his desk. Sitting on the very top of a hodge-podge pile of papers was a packet with the complete details of the Phoenix Project. He hadn't been lying when he had told Koenma in the letter that his father did want him having control should anything happen to him, but Toguro had not been entirely truthful either. Enma had wanted Koenma to head the Phoenix Project in his father's stead. Enma had hoped that with a fresh pair of eyes looking at the project, Koenma would be able to lead it down new avenues. Also, Toguro had heard this from Karasu, Enma had hoped that, by giving control over to his son, he could restrict Toguro's movements. Toguro picked up the packet and widened his terrible grin.

"My sincerest apologies Enma, but with you gone, I fully intend to implement my ideals and cement them into reality. I'll show you," he slammed the packet down on the desk, "that my dream for the Phoenix Project is the right one, and was from the start."

* * *

**I'm sorry for the shortness of this chapter. I just didn't want to ruin it by going further. Sometimes, you keep on going, and other times, if it's good, you leave it alone. There will be a KxB moment in the next chapter, I assure you. And Hiro gains a bigger role as well. I feel that that guy is starting to get his own fans…which is kind of weird.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello readers, welcome to the seventh chapter of BioPattern Rose. Thank you for all your reviews, and SmexyKitten, a very special thanks to you for your review on Swallowing Cyanide.**

**Disclaimer: Yu Yu Hakusho ist nicht mein. Obwohl ich trumen kann. (heh, sorry, I'm listening to Rammstein as I write. Translation: Yu Yu Hakusho is not mine. Although I can dream.)**

**Author's Notes: (I'm putting this up to be safe) Toguro and Karasu's views of humanity do not reflect my own, its just part of the story. If you are wondering why this is up here, refer to Aristania's review, left on chapter four.**

* * *

Late afternoon sun shone through the scant cloud cover, outlining the white puffs in the sky. Botan pulled into the parking lot. On the radio, The Cult sang on about the lovely smoke rising 'Fire Woman', while overhead a robin fluttered on the breeze. Turning the car off, an apprehensive feeling settled over her, and she had no idea why. Something felt…off. As she pulled off her seatbelt and stepped out of her car, she found the silence of the parking lot to be overwhelming. Something definitely wasn't right. She decided that her first task would be to find Hiro and ask him if anything had happened during the day, or after she left yesterday for that matter.

Once inside, the feeling of apprehension intensified. An eerie quiet had settled over the facility. Her footsteps echoed around her much like they did that night when she stumbled into the hall where the demons were kept. The hallway into which she had entered was devoid of all life. No sounds issued forth from the open doors on her left and right. It was as if everyone had vanished. She was about ready to head upstairs when Hiro burst forth from around the corner. The aide was panting from exertion, and his eyes danced wildly, as if he was either excited or frightened. When he saw her, he rushed over to her and grabbed her shoulders. Botan jumped, startled. What had gotten into him?

"Botan, you're here, thank goodness!"

Botan stared back at him, uncomprehending of his state of panic.

"What's going on?" She asked, trying to stop fear from trickling into her own voice. If Hiro looked like that, then something was up.

Hiro sighed. His teeth played with his lip as he looked off to the side. Botan turned his face back to hers, looking him in the eyes. Hiro sighed again and released her.

"Toguro contacted Koenma via letter. Control of the Phoenix Project has already been transferred over to him. Koenma left to go talk with his father. I don't think there's-"

"What?" Botan asked, dumbfounded. "How? How was Toguro able to transfer control, and why would Enma give it to him? I thought that Koenma and Toguro had joint control."

"No, I wish that were true," Hiro replied, shaking his head, "however, at this point, there's nothing we can do. We're going to have to bide our time for now, and hope Koenma can come up with something."

Botan stared at him. Hiro's words had flown out in such a rush that she was having a hard time making sense of it all. Her gut instinct whispered to her, mumbling in a small, frightened voice that now that Toguro had control, something horrible was going to happen. But what exactly? Truth be told, she had never actually met the man. She'd met his aide, Karasu, and already couldn't stand him, but did that have anything to say about Toguro? Then again… Her eyes rolled over Hiro's frame, scrutinizing his facial expressions and body language. For Hiro to be acting like that over a simple transfer of power, then something terrible had to be in the works. What was it about this man, this one man, that had nearly the entire lab on edge? Botan regarded her superior with a quizzical gaze. After a small bout of silence, she shrugged her shoulders free of his grasp.

"Hiro, may I ask you something?"

"Yes, what is it?" Hiro replied, traces of panic and fear just beginning to vanish.

"Why is everyone so afraid of Toguro? My mother was, you are, I'm pretty sure Koenma is too. And then there's about everyone else I've been alongside. The moment he walks into the room, or walks by, the whole place falls silent. Some people whisper about him, but I never catch enough of anything to make an informed decision." Botan explained, looking everywhere but at him. It was wrong to eavesdrop on her co-worker's conversations, she knew, but she wanted to know something at least darn it! Hiro gave her a level look. His shoulders tensed, then dropped as yet another sigh tore loose from his lungs.

"I guess now's a good a time as any to explain everything." He said. He turned from her, and looked back over his shoulder.

"Follow me." And with that, he strode off, leaving Botan to jog after him down the hall. A few minutes later, they were in an empty lab room. Hiro peeked out the door and after looking both up and down the hall for any passerby, shut and locked the door behind them. Botan leaned up against the lab table, cocking her head to one side.

"Sorry," he said, "I have no means for secrecy; I just feel it would be better to disclose all of this information to you where no one else can hear." Okay, that made sense. Botan continued to watch Hiro as he pushed himself off of the door he leaned against, and stepped a few more paces into the room. He looked left, then right, then directly at her. Unsure of where to begin in his explanation, he put a hand to his face in attempt to still the swirling thoughts in his mind. Botan, sweet Botan, waited for him with what seemed to be the patience of a saint. Finally, when Hiro had gotten his mental and emotional dials turned back towards normal he began;

"Toguro's always been…unstable. I find that to be the best way to put it. That's not to say that he isn't a good asset to this lab. As the co-founder, he's kind of important. Something which I despise…" Hiro caught Botan's impatient look and smiled apologetically. "Sorry, didn't mean to be rambling. At any rate, Toguro's views on science and humanity have always been strange ones. It's not as if he hates humans, but he views the current human race as weak and degenerate. He's always had something up his sleeve since the moment Enma proposed the Phoenix Project. I feel he may want to use the demons. That may be why he proposed the idea of capturing and quarantining them to Enma during the early stages of the project."

"So you're saying he wants to bring an end to humanity?" Botan asked, hands beginning to tremble. Toguro…was out to destroy humans? Sub-zero fingers inched their way up her spine. With what dwelled behind the doors of this lab, and the research that sat in the file cabinets, Botan had no doubt in her mind that he could pull it off. Hiro shook his head.

"No, that wouldn't make sense, because he seems to abhor the demons just as much." Hiro grabbed her shoulders again, this time with more force. "Botan, I need you to stay alert. Keep an eye out at all times. For yourself if for no one else, be constantly vigilant. We have no idea what he's planning, but we can't allow it to come to fruition. And please, stay away from Karasu as well, for he's in complete league with Toguro; of that I'm certain."

He let her go. Botan just stood there. The thought of possible world annihilation didn't appeal to her, but neither did not having any answers. How could such a man, who was so wrong in the head, become so powerful, and no one notice his instability? She and Hiro stood there in the silent lab room, their surroundings as bleak as their outlook. What did he want with the demons? What did he want with the lab in general? Botan was afraid to find out. A thought occurred to her: If Toguro was able to reach his goal, what would become of the lab afterwards? What would become of her, or Hiro, or Koenma? Another question rose up from the murky depths of the already deep, cold lake of fear: what would happen to Kurama once his usefulness ran out? Botan looked at Hiro. He was the one that had the most dealing with the demons, so surely he would know something.

Sensing her eyes on him, Hiro looked up at Botan.

"Is something wrong?" he inquired.

"The demons. Subject 0119, what will happen to him? What will happen to all of them?" Botan said, gaze falling towards the floor. Would Toguro kill them all? Although, in such short time, she had become attached to Kurama, she knew that he was being used as testing material. Now that things were being placed under Toguro's control, would he annihilate them all? Hiro stared back at her, just as lost for answers as she was. After a moment of silence, he too regarded the floor.

"I don't know. All we can do is pray Koenma can do something before Toguro makes his inevitable move."

Botan sighed. What was Koenma doing right now?

Meanwhile, Karasu stood in front of Toguro's desk, awaiting further orders. The latter leaned back in his chair, hands laced across his chest. He did not turn his head to look at his aide, but kept his hidden gaze trained on the desk in front of him. The clock on the wall ticked off another minute, and still nothing was spoken. A tangible silence had draped itself over the room, oozing down the walls and trying to suffocate the ever-moving second hand. Outside the office, it was just as silent. The halls leading to and away from the co-director's office seemed suspended in time with their absolute silence. Karasu continued to gaze at his superior, waiting for him to speak. When yet another minute passed, and Toguro's lips remained sealed, Karasu cleared his throat.

"Sir?" he murmured. Toguro glanced up, face as impassive as a mountain crag.

"Yes Karasu?"

"How do you plant to proceed, now that you have full control?"

At first, the behemoth didn't answer. He continued to sit in his chair, a terrifying flesh golem. The second hand ticked on, trying in vain to shatter the silence with its pointless, tiny ticks and tocks. Toguro laid his hands down on his desk and looked up at his aide.

"Karasu, what are your thoughts on humanity? How do you believe we, as a species, have progressed?"

Karasu's eyes flashed. "What do you mean?"

"Just answer the question Karasu."

From the cold edge in Toguro's tone, Karasu decided it would be an ill decision to press the matter further. He spoke.

"I find humanity's evolution to be a strange thing. For eons we struggled to be on top. Locked ourselves within a battle for dominance against creatures with strength we couldn't even begin to fathom. Again and again, we fought, using our own sense of cunning to outwit the creatures that were hunting us down for food. When we lost, we became more determined. When we were outwitted, we got smarter. Soon, we pushed the hunters back and made them become the hunted. Humans drove them into the most barren wastes and forgot about them. They became safe; but humans are a strange species. When they attained what they desired, how did they react to this? The began to fight with each other, and if that didn't work, they went after lesser beings. In a sense, they became what they had so abhorred.

"Humans are a destructive race. They learned from those long ago days of being hunted, I won't deny that. However, along with learning how to survive, they took what had been done to them and used it to their benefit after the greater enemy had expired. They turned on each other, turned on the world that they had been given, viewed it as their right to stamp all over it, and pity the fool who stands in their way."

Karasu clenched his fist and looked Toguro dead in the eye. "You want my opinion on how humans have evolved so far? Humans have reached the top, and now the only place left to go is down. Their end will come, and a more intelligent species will take their place."

"So you're saying that in a few years, the demons will rise?"

Karasu shook his head. "No, I loathe those unnatural creatures just as much as you do sir. But I do believe that this century shall be one of humanity's twilight years. Perhaps by the end of it, they will be gone, having left behind what is left of this planet to salvage."

Toguro nodded at Karasu's response. "I agree with most of what you're saying Karasu, however, humanity has not reached a plateau in evolution, it's just reached a temporary halt." The wheels of the chair rolled backwards and Toguro rose from his seat and turned to face the window behind him. Afternoon sunlight set the impassive stone of his face ablaze in fiery orange light. He stood, arms clasped behind his back, looking out through the glass to the expanse of land beyond.

"As it stands, the human race is weak. They perish so easily. They contract nearly every disease on the planet, and at some point die from it. Therefore they plunge themselves in a futile quest to extend their lives, all the while forgetting that they must fall some time."

He turned away from the window and back to his office. "The oldest law of nature is adapt or die out. We realize this law, but do not follow it. We hide from nature and all its forces, tucked away in our cozy little abodes. It is now time," here he held up a clenched fist. Like a large flower opening up for the day, his fingers unfurled back from his palm, "for humanity to evolve again." In his hand, he held four tiny orbs that bore a resemblance to seed pods, if not for their perfect shape and metallic gleam. Karasu raised an eyebrow.

"And those are?"

Without lowering his hand, Toguro replied, "The first step to creating a new, better humanity."

"A better humanity?" Karasu echoed, likewise never dropping his raised eyebrow. Toguro proceeded to explain.

"Contained within these pods is the combined DNA of the strongest demons we have here at Libra. These pods are coated with a thin aluminum alloy that will dissolve inside the stomach once ingested. From there, the fluid that contains the DNA will migrate through the bloodstream, causing the body to undergo a process similar to an accelerated evolution.

"But there's only four."

"Prototypes," Toguro responded. "besides, I don't think I'll need more than four. By implanting these in the bodies of four humans, two male, two female, that will be enough. They, and the children they produce, will be enough to create my ideal vision of the world."

Toguro laid the pods down on his desk. They made a muted clattering noise as they came into contact with the wood. He paused as he went to pull his hand away, almost stroking the pods lovingly like a mother will to the heads of her children. These tiny, tiny objects would bring about a change more impacting than the detonation of an atomic bomb. In his mind's eye, he could see the new, superior breed of humans slaughtering their weak predecessors. Flames of destruction would envelop the old human race, and from their ashes the evolved humans, his creations, would rise; and when they did, they would look to him as God. Yes, they would be his children, and they would not defy him. There was only one problem.

Eyes hidden behind thick shades rolled back to the aide. Karasu stood in front of Toguro's desk, waiting patiently for the man to continue, eyes glowing with interest. His lips parted, and a question fell into the open air.

"If I may ask, how do you intend to go about such a feat?"

"That's what I was getting to," Toguro responded, "I need to know what you think of conducting an at-home test within the lab to see who is the most compatible with the evolution pods."

"Compatible?"

"Only the strongest survive Karasu. It's the supreme law of nature. There are many who are not strong enough to evolve. We need to fid those who are."

"And if no one like that exists in the lab?" Karasu countered.

"There is at least one person in the lab like that Karasu, I assure you."

Nodding his head, Karasu responded to Toguro's earlier thought. "I believe an at-home test of our own will work just fine. However, how do you plan to announce this to everyone?"

"I'll leave the details up to you."

"Very well sir."

Nothing else was spoken between the two men. Karasu took the packet containing Toguro's avenue of the Phoenix Project and left the room, his destination being Koenma's office. Teeth of an eerily perfect white leered out from a smile of equally disturbing quality. It was all coming together.

A comforting breeze blew in through the window, ruffling her cerulean locks. Outside, the sky melted from a pale pink to a medium orange and began to darken even further the more the sun sank below the horizon. The chart used for recording data sat on the table nearest the bed, all filled out and ready to go in the morning. Botan placed her hands in her lap, watching the sunset. Kurama sat beside her, also absorbed in the bed time preparations nature was taking. Both of them sat there, watching the sun wave a final farewell as the last of its rays flickered and winked out over the horizon. Tiny, bright, sparkling eyes opened up within the sky, winking down at the land below. Sitting on the bed, with a wistful smile on her face, Botan sighed. Kurama turned to look at her.

"Is something wrong?" he asked

"Not really," Botan replied, shaking her head, "it's just that my mother and I used to watch the sunset a lot when I was little. When I do stuff like this, I realize just how much I miss her."

Nodding his head, Kurama pressed, "But that's not the only thing that's bothering you."

"You're pretty sharp, you know that?" Botan chuckled.

"Think of it as a demon's intuition."

Suppressing another chuckle, Botan turned her focus to the nervous twiddling thumbs in her lap. "It's just that…a friend of mine got angry with me earlier today because I was keeping secrets from her. But I mean, it's not that I have a choice. I can't tell her about what I do here, or else I'll lose my job. If that happens, I'll have to go live with relatives halfway across the prefecture. I don't want to leave the friends I've got here, both in and outside the lab. Not to say I want to keep worrying Keiko, she has better things to worry about than me, but…I don't want them to forget about me, nor I them. I'm wondering if I shouldn't just pull away from them now. Alleviate Keiko's worry, and at the same time alleviate the burden of keeping so many secrets."

"But then you really _will _be lonely, all by yourself." Kurama interjected. Botan lifted her gaze back to the window.

"Maybe, but I'm sure I wouldn't be troubling anyone anymore."

A condensed pool of silence lapped at the walls of the room as Botan drifted further back into her own mind. The demon next to her watched, attempting to analyze the lack of emotion both in her face and eyes. Specks of dust settled on the floor, unnoticed spectators of the melancholy drama unfolding. Her bangs flopped down to hide her eyes as she lowered her head.

"Hey…Kurama?" The lab tech asked, voice sounding weak and subdued.

"Yes?"

"Have you ever thought about the life you have before you came to Libra? Have you ever wanted to go back to it?"

For a while Kurama stayed silent. Then, he stood up and walked over to the window, and placed a splayed palm on the cool, smooth glass. His eyes pierced through the darkness of the night and saw a small group of bats zipping through the air, no doubt trying to find prey. A moth flew under a beam of moonlight only to be snatched up by the hungry jaws of one of the bats. On the ground, the grass rippled and swayed, caught at the gentle mercy of the continuing breeze. Further up in the sky, a raven called out, speaking in the archaic tongue of the night. Kurama closed his eyes.

"To be honest, I used to think about trying to return to my old life, the one where I was called Suuichi by my human mother, and lived as a human…" Kurama trailed off for a moment, opening his eyes to once again observe the scenery outside. Taking a deep breath, he continued, "But that's impossible."

Botan opened her mouth to interject, but Kurama beat her to the punch.

"The life I had before now is gone, completely erased from this world. I doubt there's a single person who remembers Suuichi Minamino. This is the only life I have. If I leave it, what will become of me?" Kurama turned away from the window, eyes closed one more, and a smile gracing his lips. "Besides, I'm happy here, it may not be the life I had, but I'm living at the very least."

Botan didn't raise her head. From the way she kept quiet, Kurama was not sure if he had even heard her at all. However, as Kurama watched, the fabric of her lab coat began to shrink back towards her lap as she began to clench it between tightly closing fists. Her body slumped forward a small margin. Concerned that what he had said had somehow triggered her to recede deeper into herself, Kurama took a step towards her.

"Botan? Are you okay?"

No reply.

"Botan, please answer me."

"You…"

The word came out just above audible, its tone steeped in suppressed anger. Kurama decided to try again.

"Please Botan, say a complete sentence at least."

"You…" Her lab coat made rustling noises as her grip tightened, "you…" her teeth started to grind, "you idiot!" Her head snapped up. Bright lights of anger glittered in her eyes, making them glow. Kurama jumped back, startled by her sudden outburst.

"What?" Was all he could say in the (literal) face of Botan's anger.

Botan rose from the bed, strode over to him, and grabbed his shoulders.

"You're such an idiot Kurama! You can't be happy, there's _no way _you could be happy when all you do, day in and day out is get subjected to one test after another! There's no warmth here, no love, no light, no _nothing _for you! Face it, you're not alive, you're just pretending to be!" Her grip slackened, and she bowed her head, the top of her head scraping his chest. "There's no one to greet you when you wake up. There's no one to take away the pain that you feel from some of the tests. There's no one to tell you not to be afraid, that everything's going to be all right. There's no life here, only work. You can't be happy in a place like this. You're lying to yourself."

"I think you're the one who's lying to herself." Kurama said, lifting her face up to meet his. His eyes held no expression, his voice was monotone. He smiled, but it never touched his eyes, "I really am happy, I assure you."

Botan shook her head. "Liar. Liar, liar, liar. I can see it. Whenever you smile, or whenever you laugh, you get this look in your eyes; like you're so sad and so alone, but you're too scared to tell anyone, including yourself, because you're so afraid of breaking down and not knowing how to fix yourself afterwards."

Tears slid down her face, each hitting the floor with a soft _plip, plip _sound. She lowered her hands and gripped the fabric of his shirt while her body began to tremble from the effort of keeping her sobs locked away. Her forehead found his chest as she continued, voice choked with tears.

"I know, because it's the same look I get. Sometimes I get so lonely I can't stand it, and hardly anyone ever calls, no one drops by to see me just for the heck of it. No one ever expects me to feel sad, 'It's just not in your nature.' they say, so I just plaster a goofy grin on my face and try to bury all my pain, but that only makes it worse. I…I just…" Botan sniffed, trying in vain to dispel the endlessly resurging fountain of tears, "I don't want you to be like me Kurama. If it hurts I want you to show me. I want to help you."

Whatever she had left to say dissolved into tears. Months of hurt, loneliness, and despair all stripped and laid bare in that one moment as Botan cried openly for the first time since her mother's death. Kurama stared down at her in shock. He'd seen her loneliness, her sadness, and all this time, he'd thought that she had been talking to him to ease her own pain. Never once, however, on all of her visits, had she ever been thinking of herself. She thought of him. She cared about him. She wanted to help him. This whole time, he had been keeping her away, never wanting to come completely clean with her for fear of her being just like the rest of the humans, when all she wanted to do, _the only _thing she wanted to do was to show him compassion, and understanding. The two things that she had denied for herself. Deep inside him, a wall crumbled. Without thinking, not even caring if he was, he wrapped his arms around her, holding her tenderly; and while he never cried his own tears, his heart echoed her feelings.

"I'm sorry." he whispered. Botan didn't answer verbally, but she did wrap her arms around him in turn. Apology accepted.

When Botan's tears had dried up, they parted and looked at each other. For the first time, his eyes no longer looked haunted. A radiant glow was just beginning to appear; this time he would be alright. Botan's eyes were red and puffy from crying so many tears, her skin was pale from the emotional exhaustion, and never had she been so beautiful. Botan reached down and took one of Kurama's hands in her own. Interlacing their fingers, she said;

"I want to help you Kurama. Even if it's just for a short while, I want to take you outside of these doors, away from this lab, and have you live an actual life."

A steady emerald gaze regarded her, "Are you sure that's possible?"

"I'll talk to Koenma about it. You have the privilege of going out onto a balcony, I don't think coming home with me will do anyone any harm."

"I'll ask you again: are you sure that's possible?"

"I can try my hardest to make it that way."

Kurama removed his hand from hers, and placed it on her cheek, cupping her face. Botan smiled and turned her face into the warmth.

"I'd like that," he said, giving her skin a loving stroke, "more than you can ever think of."

Botan's smile widened. "I know."

She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. Stunned, the fox demon took his hand from her face and placed it on his own. Meanwhile, Botan turned around and went to grab the chart sitting a few feet away. Vital belonging gathered, she walked towards the door leading out of his cage, but not before turning back to Kurama. The demon still stood in front of the window, hand placed on his right cheek, a light blush caressing his face. Shaking her head in mock despair, Botan opened the door and strode out, leaving the wonder struck demon to his thoughts.

As she drew closer to Koenma's office, something caught her eye which made her stop dead in her tracks. Beneath the door, a thin shaft of light beamed out into the hallway. Was Koenma back? No, he couldn't be. The way Hiro had made things sound, Botan assumed he would be with his father for the remainder of the day. Botan checked her watch, eight o' clock. The sun had set quite some time ago, normally Koenma didn't like driving the many twists and turns of the road leading to the lab after dark. A worm of fear twisted inside Botan's gut as she edged closer to the door. She laid her ear flat against the surface in hopes of picking up some clue as to the identity of the occupant inside. A thought then struck her, confirming her suspicion: whenever the hour grew this late, Koenma always had his desk lamp on, or worked with the light from the computer monitor. He had remarked earlier about how he liked to work under a 'softer light', it made things a bit more comfortable. Whoever was in the office had the light switch flipped on. Praying it would be Hiro, Botan knocked on the door and opened it.

Her prayers went unanswered.

Standing on the other side of the door, was Toguro's aide, Karasu. Botan froze the moment she saw him. What was he doing here? She cursed her luck as she remembered Hiro's strict order to stay as far away from both of them as possible. Karasu smiled.

"Ah, why hello there Botan. What brings you here so late? Shouldn't you be on your way home by now?" he questioned, glancing at the clock hanging on the far wall.

"Yes, well, I was just dropping off this chart, I-"

Before she could finish her half-coined explanation, Karasu took the clipboard full of charts from her, and leafed through them.

"I see, the subject status charts," His eyes narrowed as he scrutinized the recorded data, "nothing much seems to have changed. I see Subject 0119 of the last one that you did. Refresh my memory, isn't he the one at the end of the hall?"

"Yes." Botan replied, in a guarded tone.

Karasu raised an eyebrow and continued, "Yes, that one seems to be Koenma's favorite, he won't let Toguro or me near him. Such a shame too, there's a myriad of tests I'd like to subject him to."

Glaring at him, Botan said "Nice pun, but just what kind of tests do you exactly plan to do on Kurama?" No sooner had the name left her mouth did she realize her mistake. Shocked at her blunder, Botan's hands flew to her lips. _Please, please, please don't let him have heard that. _Botan begged. Again, she went unheeded.

A foul glint shone in Karasu's eyes. "Kurama? The demon trusts you enough to let you call him by name? My, you must share something special with him."

"N-Not really," Botan stammered, trying to cover her fatal slip of the tongue, "I just though it would make him respond to me easier, that's all."

"Still, he's comfortable enough with it." Karasu pressed.

Botan scrounged around for something, anything that would cover up her fault. Mentally reaching out a hand, she found a light bulb cord and pulled. "How do you know he is? Hiro and Koenma may refer to him by his name."

Alas Botan was met with nothing more than a flicker of electricity.

"Hiro calls him Subject 0119. Koenma calls him the same. You're the only person I know of that knows his real name."

Feeling like a mouse dangling from a cat's paw, Botan ripped the clipboard out of Karasu's hands, and placed it in a metal basket sitting atop a file cabinet. As she went for the open door, Karasu's voice stopped her.

"I would be careful if I were you. Try not to let that special privilege cloud your judgment. He is still a demon, and if given the chance, he would tear you to pieces in an instant. Hiro and Koenma want you to believe that he's docile, but don't underestimate him. You have know idea what's he's capable of."

Without facing him, Botan replied, "Toguro wants you to believe that all the demons here are monsters. Don't let his unreasonable bias cloud your judgment. You have no idea what he's really like."

She stood there for a moment, then continued on her way. Once the echoes of her footfalls had faded, Karasu walked over and examined the chart containing Kurama's data. However, thoughts of the blue-haired lab tech flew through his mind rather than the red-headed demon. Karasu smiled. Looks like he had found Toguro's first test subject.

* * *

**Sorry it's taken me forever to update. Toguro's evil plan has been revealed, and now Botan stands directly in harm's way. Kurama might lie on the chopping block as well, can Koenma save them, and possibly the entire lab before it's too late? We'll just have to wait and see**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi readers. Sorry it took me so long to update. If you didn't see, Hetalia came out of nowhere, and snowballed me into writing fics. I do have one question though, and this goes out to Demonbloodfeeder, just because I'm curious: Where did you get the notion that I would have Kurama revert to a demon form? Technically speaking, he s in his demon form.**

* * *

Karasu watched Botan as she placed the reports in a metal basket atop a file cabinet, spun on her heel, and left the office. When he heard the last echoes of her footsteps die away, he went towards the tray and began to look over the information filled out on the chart. However, as his eyes scanned the data, he thought not of the red-haired fox, but the cerulean-locked lab tech instead. It seemed he'd found Toguro's first test subject. Karasu sighed as he placed the reports back in the basket. There was just one problem. How was he going to announce an in-home test and have no one react negatively towards it? Unfortunately, everyone else at the lab, him and Toguro excluded, shared Koenma's sentiment of demons being important to the lab. How would he change peoples' minds so they could smoothly move onto the next step? Botan's image flitted through his mind again. Her, it would have to start with her. But how? The moments past tumbled from the short-term memory file, one standing out in particular: she had called Subject 0119 by his personal name, thus insinuating she possessed some sort of bond with the demon. If her mind could be changed, others would start to follow.

Shaded by ebon bangs, Karasu's eyes sparkled with mirth as a dark plan ballooned into an insidious form. The only thing he would need to do, would be to sever that bond, and do it in the most attention-catching way possible.

* * *

The sound of the door shutting echoed throughout the semi-empty house. Botan sagged against the rough surface of the wood and sighed. Meeting Karasu definitely fell under the category of an unpleasant surprise. As she walked upstairs, she hoped her slip of the tongue would not cause a misfortunate event further down the road. When she reached her room, Botan flopped down on her bed, apprehension gnawing away at her gut. Something was wrong. She rolled over and clutched a pillow. _Please, _she prayed, _don't let Kurama be caught up in all of this, not before I have the chance to talk to Koenma about letting him out. _Botan sighed, releasing her death grip on the poor pillow. What was Koenma doing right now? Botan swung her feet up into the air and off her bed. She needed to talk to him, to ask him what their plan of action would be now that Toguro was showing his hand. Botan picked up her cell phone, scrolled through the contacts, and hit the green button when she found Koenma's cell number. Muted ringing from the other end played over and over again. White-knuckling the phone, Botan almost breathed a sigh of relief when she heard a clicking sound, but let it deadpan when she realized it was Koenma's voicemail. His home number merited the same response. Either he was at home and asleep (highly unlikely), or he was out of the house and had his phone turned off. Closing her phone, Botan sat down on the bed and sighed. Talk about being at the bottom of a dark well with no way to climb out.

Try as she might, Botan could not put her apprehensions to rest as she settled into bed. She closed her eyes and wished for sleep to come quick, lest she be up all night tossing and turning. Outside, the night wore on, hiding its secrets in the myriad of shadows.

_Darkness. Botan closed her eyes, and inhaled. Her back felt cold. She shifted slightly, and felt the unyielding surface of metal beneath her body. The silence around her was absolute. Then, just as the thought crossed her mind, tiny, muffled sounds began to break the auditory barrier. Before she could open her eyes as to inquire their origin, hands grabbed her arms and pinned her down. A dull thump came from behind as her head slammed back into the metal table she was being forced upon. She squirmed, but to no avail. The grip of her captor was just too strong to break. Heart hammering away at a record-breaking speed, she forced her muscles to relax so she could better understand why she was being held on this table in the first place. Sensing that she was not going to try and fight, her unnamed, unseen captor let her go. Botan sighed, and opened her eyes, tentatively peeking at her surroundings._

_ Sterile white walls encased the room she was in. Off to her left, large machines sat beeping and blinking small lights. A closer beeping sound caught her attention. She turned her head to see a heart monitor standing close to the metal table. The spike on the screen became less and less frequent the more she relaxed. Botan swept her gaze further around the room. More machines, papers, Kurama, a window with the shades drawn- _

_ Wait, Kurama?_

_ Sure enough, strapped to another metal table a few feet away and unconscious, lay Kurama. Fear chilled Botan's blood. What was going on? Why was Kurama here? An impulse swelled up in her mind: she had to get him out of here. She could figure out everything else later. As she started to rise, a firm hand gripped her shoulder and pushed her back down._

_ "Sorry, but you're going to have to stay lying down for this. Don't make me do to you what I had to do to him." _

_ That voice!_

_ "Karasu?" Botan leaned her head back. Staring back at her, needle in his free hand, was Karasu. Botan's eyes flew to the needle resting in the ready position: poised between his first and middle finger with the thumb on the plunger. Adrenaline flooded her veins and she began to struggle once more. Karasu's iron grip tightened on her shoulder, causing her to yelp in pain and cease her thrashing. His grip loosened, but not much. Botan sucked in a shaky breath, trying to still her jumping nerves. "What are you doing? Why is Kurama here? Why is he strapped to that table?"_

_ Unmindful of the quivering in her voice, Karasu leaned down and whispered into her ear. _

_ "This is the second phase of the Phoenix Project. You and the demon will help us usher in a new era."_

_ "The heck are you talking about? Let Kurama go!" To punctuate her order, Botan tried wriggling herself free of Karasu's grip once more. The response she received was the vise-like grip pinching a nerve. Pain skittered up and down her arm. A yelp tore itself free from her throat. Karasu smiled and gave her shoulder another hard squeeze._

_ "Just lay back and be a good girl Botan. _You _have nothing to be afraid of."_

_ "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" Botan growled, trying to keep the shaking out of her voice. _

_ "It means what it sounds like. You have no reason to fear this because it will be beneficial to you. The demon on the other hand...well, who cares about the fate that awaits him? He played his part, now it's our turn."_

_ Enraged, Botan somehow summoned the strength, and tore herself free of Karasu's hand. She spun off the table and whirled on Karasu. Amethyst eyes flashed with unsuppressed fury. _

_ "Excuse me! It may not be evident to you, but I care about Kurama! And just what do you mean by 'now it's our turn'? Turn for what? And how is this whatever the heck you're going to do to me be for my benefit? Tell me, and no cryptic crap either!"_

_ Karasu chuckled. He stepped around the table and walked over to the one on which Kurama was being held. Pale fingers toyed with the strands of scarlet that fanned out around the demon's head._

_ "It's beneficial to you because you, as a person, will be greatly improved by this. What I meant earlier was that it's now our turn to contribute to the Phoenix Project. Enough of letting those monsters get all the credit." He turned back to Botan, needle still poised. This time however, the point was aimed right at her. "Well, Botan? What do you say? Are you ready to make scientific history?"_

_ "If you think I'm going to do anything that will come at the expense of Kurama's life, you-" Her leaping forward motion was brought to a halt. Confused, Botan glanced down to find her legs bound by leather straps. When she tried to move her arms, she found them in a similar situation. Confusion became speckled with icy pinpricks of fear. Alarmed, Botan looked up at Karasu, who shook his head._

_ "Oh dear, and after I went to all that trouble to convince myself that I should not strap you down." A sigh of mock despair issued forth, "I guess there's no use crying over spilt milk." He began to walk toward her, needle out and ready. "Now..."_

_ Botan thrashed as best she could. Cold metal kissed her back, informing her that somehow the table had materialized beneath her, and she was back at square one, only now in a much worse position. _

_ "Why are you doing this? Stop!" Her gaze darted around the room, landing on the bound fox demon lying a few feet away. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes. If she let Karasu do what he was about to do, Kurama was going to die! "Kurama!" she cried. If only she could wake him up! "Kurama!"_

_ "It's no use." Karasu stated, unwrapping one of her arms, but keeping a firm enough grip on it to where she couldn't use the freedom of the limb to her advantage. "If you would have been on our side from the start, things would have gone a lot smoother for you."_

_ Heedless to his words, Botan continued calling out for Kurama. "Wake up!" she screamed. _

_ Karasu set the needle down and placed both hands on either side of her head, turning her face away from the comatose demon. Botan closed her eyes. She didn't want to look at him. She didn't want to see what was coming. _

_ "Botan, Botan. Everything's going to be alright." Botan stilled. Was it her, or was his voice starting to change? "There's nothing to fear, I assure you that." Yes, it was! In fact it was starting to sound like-_

_ "Look at me, Botan."_

_ Botan's eyes snapped open. Instead of Karasu's steely, guarded purple eyes, Kurama's gentle green gaze stared back at her. _

_ "Kurama! But how-"_

_ "Hush Botan." Kurama said, cutting her off. Botan scrutinized his face. Something was wrong. A dull throb of pain began spreading through her body. Flinching a bit at the sudden wave of nerve signals, Botan glanced down at herself as best she could. Before she could take stock of her body, Kurama leaned forward and covered her eyes._

_ "Don't look. Look only at me." Kurama's voice sounded off. A bit sad, and with an underlying current of something Botan couldn't name. Botan relaxed and allowed Kurama to block her eyesight, closing her own eyes in turn beneath the veil of his hand. Who cared how he had gotten free? He was here and Karasu wasn't. She was going to be alright. Kurama was here. _

_ "I'm sorry Botan, but Karasu's right." _

_ What? What was he saying? Botan tried to turn her head out of Kurama's grip so she could look at him, but the hand over her eyes pushed her head back down. Once the task was accomplished, the hand retreated to the right side of her face, leaving her to open her eyes so should she wish. Botan laid there for a moment, trying to take in what Kurama had just said. Karasu was right? How? Why? _

_ Botan's thoughts came to a shattering halt when she felt something wet drip onto her face, right on her lower lip. Instinctively, she licked it off, and almost choked when the taste settled onto her tongue. Salty, coppery, and warm._

_ Blood?_

_ As if to confirm her response, her body exploded in pain. Her arms, her legs, and even her neck groaned in agony. Botan whimpered. What was going on?_

_ "I'm sorry." Kurama repeated. "Look at me Botan." he pleaded again. Botan slowly began to open her eyes. If she could just look at Kurama's face, then everything would be okay. This was not happening. She opened her eyes, looked at Kurama's face, and froze._

_ Dripping from Kurama's mouth was the same blood she had tasted but a moment before. White fangs peeked out from the confines of his mouth, both stained in blood. In her peripheral vision, she could just see Kurama's fingers cradling her face. Each one was tipped with a claw and stained in blood as well. Against her will, Botan began to tremble. Another whimper sounded from her throat. Kurama stroked her face, leaving a red smear behind on her skin._

_ "How did this...why are you..."Botan choked out through shaking vocal chords._

_ "Karasu was right Botan. You should have been with him from the beginning. Then things wouldn't have had to be this way."_

_ Before Botan could respond, Kurama lunged forward, fangs burying themselves into the tender flesh of her neck._

Botan sat bolt upright in bed, shrieking. Panting, she took a look around her room. Silver light sailed in through the window, illuminating her room in its dreamy glow. The clock on her nightstand proclaimed the time to be 4:45. A shaky hand placed itself over her face. What kind of dream had that been? Botan sighed. Her heart continued to hammer away inside her chest. She was surprised it hadn't burst out of her rib cage. Still somewhat frightened, Botan laid back on her bed, snuggling deep into her mattress.

Twenty minutes later, and sleep still failed to grant her its peaceful bliss. Botan groaned in aggravation and threw the covers off of her. Screw sleep. As she stepped out into the hall, she clicked on the light and made her way down the stairs. Looked like she was going to be up for the remainder of the night. _If I'm going to stay up I might as well get something to eat. _Botan thought as she flicked on the kitchen light. A moment later, she sat down at the table with a bowl of chips in front of her. Not the healthiest thing in the world, but they would do to keep her energy up, and her mind off the nightmare. Sadly, a mere ten chips gone from the bowl, and her mind kept returning to the dreamscape. What did it mean? Why had Kurama been in it? There was significance she knew, but what? Unaware of her eyelids beginning to droop, Botan continued scrutinizing her dream, turning it over and over, searching for a hidden meaning.

She awoke the minute her head made contact with the table. Shoving the barely touched bowl aside, Botan wiped the grogginess out of her eyes and checked the time on the stove clock. 5:25. Forty minutes had passed. Strange, it only felt like five. Botan shrugged her shoulders and pushed her chair back from the table. In about two hours her alarm clock would go off, so there was no sense in going back to bed. Leaving the kitchen behind, Botan went back upstairs and began getting ready for the day. As she went to pull her school uniform out of the closet, she caught a glimpse of her lab coat lying over the back of her desk chair. Uniform in hand, Botan stared at her coat, thinking about her dream, about Karasu, about Kurama. She needed to go to the lab. She needed to see Kurama. That decided, Botan tossed her uniform back in her closet and proceeded to grab a pull-over shirt and a pair of jeans to wear under her lab coat.

A quarter after seven found her downstairs, preparing to leave. As she opened the door, she was shocked to discover Keiko standing on the other side, fist raised in preparation of knocking. Upon seeing her friend, Keiko put her hand down and smiled.

"Morning Botan. I thought that since the weather was wonderful, we could walk to school together." Keiko chuckled. "To be honest, I'm surprised you're up and ready..." her voice trailed off when she noticed Botan's lack of school appropriate attire. Chesnutt orbs scrutinized the girl in the doorway. Botan looked at the patch of grass off to the side of the front step. Guilt gnawed at her heart. Truth be told, Keiko didn't live that far from Botan, but still; she did something like this for her, and Botan was gong to turn it down. Botan didn't want to hurt Keiko further, but what could she do? Botan sighed and forced herself to look Keiko straight in the face.

"I'm sorry, but I won't be going to school today."

Keiko took a small step back. Her gaze wandered to the ground and evaluated the cracks in the pavement.

"Oh. I see." Keiko responded in a quiet voice.

"I'm sorry, it's just that I have to be at Libra this morning."

"Why?" Keiko asked without looking up.

Botan bit her lip. With her head down like that, Botan couldn't tell if her friend was about five seconds away from blowing up in her face, or ready to cry. She hoped it wasn't either of those reactions. She couldn't tell Keiko about the dream, but could she afford another lie? Releasing her lip from the death grip of her teeth, Botan omitted the truth.

"Because with everything that's been going on, they're going to be needing a lot of my help."

"I see."

"Look, Keiko, I know you wanted to walk with me today, and I appreciate the gesture, really I do, it's just that I-"

"It's okay."

Stunned, Botan blinked at Keiko. Keiko was letting this slide? Surely she was bluffing, or at the very least covering up her emotions. Confusion froze her vocal cords, and so she could only stare at her friend. Keiko looked up, smiling.

"Botan, I understand. Your job is demanding, and it's also important to you. I don't mind you heading off. I just hoped I'd be able to get you to talk about yourself more today."

Keiko's smile faltered for a brief moment. Botan sighed, irritated at herself. Should she go back into the house and change into her uniform? Images of her dream flashed through her head and her apprehension renewed itself tenfold. No. If her gut instinct was screaming at this loud of a volume, then she needed to go to the lab. She turned her eyes back to Keiko's face. Her smile seemed chipper enough, and her smile was sincere, but deep within her eyes the light of loneliness was shining. Botan pulled her friend into a tight embrace. Keiko didn't deserve to be hurting like this, especially not because of her friend. Unsure of how to respond to the unexpected hug, Keiko stood there, frozen in Botan's arms. Botan leaned looked over the brunette's shoulder. Across the street, the houses were beginning to take on a saffron glow the higher the sun rose. With each passing second of time, Botan felt her anxiety increase. Pushing it to the very bottom of her mind, she squeezed the girl she'd known since elementary school.

"One day, when everything's blown over, and I am in a position to do so, I'll tell you everything I can about Libra an what I do there. That's a promise."

She let Keiko go and began walking towards her car. Keiko turned back and called after her.

"Botan, what are you saying?"

Opening her car door, Botan tossed the reply back over her shoulder.

"I'm making a promise to you that you cannot, under any circumstances, forget: one day I promise to tell you all that I can about Libra and what it is I do there." she looked back at the girl standing on the front step, smiling, "Okay? Remember the promise Keiko."

Without waiting for a reply, she waved a final goodbye and crawled into her car. As she backed out of the driveway, she took one last glance at Keiko before continuing on. She may have imagined it, but she could have sworn Keiki had been smiling.

* * *

The first thing Koenma noticed upon awakening was the steady ascent of the sun as it sneaked further and further above the horizon. The second thing was the stiffness of his back and the fact that he was sitting up in a rather uncomfortable chair instead of laying down in his soft bed. Blinking sleep from his eyes, Koenma tried to discern where he was.

"Well, good morning. I thought you were going to sleep the whole day away with as many logs as you were sawing in that chair."

As soon as he recognized the voice, Koenma became wide awake. He looked over in the direction from which the voice had come. Sitting upright in bed, smiling at him, was his father. At first, Koenma couldn't think of anything to say. His throat was paralyzed and his mouth hung, both unable of working properly. Enma chuckled.

"What's wrong son? You trying to catch flies for me?"

At that playful taunt, Koenma found himself able to speak again.

"D-Dad! You're awake! Um...do you need anything? I'll call one of the nurses."

Enma waved his hand dismissing his son's concern. "No need for that. I'm fine. One of the nurses already came in here earlier this morning and told me that I'm doing much better."

Relief warmed Koenma's entire being. He smiled at his father. "That's good. I'm glad."

"As you should be. The nurses tell me you've practically made this place your home with as many visits as you've been making."

"If I've inconvenienced them, I'm terribly sorry. I-"

"Relax Koenma, they were simply joking. As am I."

Koenma sighed an sank back into the chair. His father gave him another warm smile.

"How have you been doing, son?"

"I've been doing alright."

"And the lab? How goes the Phoenix Project?"

Koenma gulped. His palms began to itch as a nervous sweat trickled down the skin. He glanced over at the window behind his father. The contents of Toguro's letter filled his mind as he thought of a way to answer the question and at the same time ask one of his own. What Toguro said couldn't be true. There was no way Enma would ever give that man control. His gaze fell back onto his father, waiting patiently for his son to answer a simple inquiry. Koenma swallowed the nervous lump in his throat and proceeded to answer.

"It's going pretty well, or rather it was. Toguro's literally pushing the envelops about going onto stage two, and, well, he's assumed full control."

"He's done what now?"

The ice in Enma's tone seemed to drop the room temperature a few degrees. Koenma shuddered when he looked at his father's face. Dark anger offset by the fierce glow in his eyes, silently demanding his son to explain. A small puff of carbon dioxide made its way out of Koenma's lungs, alerting him that he'd been holding his breath. Inhaling, he began to explain.

"Toguro sent me a letter stating that Libra would proceed onto phase two of the Phoenix Project. He told me that since I do not have the details, and that since you are currently in the hospital, he will be taking full control. He didn't tell me what plans he had for the Phoenix Project, only that should I have any questions, I would be to take it up with Karasu."

A thin thread of silence stretched between the two men, pulling tighter and tighter, until is finally snapped, and Enma's voice crept out, burning with rage and a hint of regret.

"I should have known he would try something like this. Even though I tried to convince myself over and over, things would be safe in your hands and they would all play out if we waited long enough, deep in the back of my mind I knew Toguro would pull something like this." Enma leaned back against the wall and sighed. He closed his eyes, allowing his mind to wander the expanse of darkness behind the lids and concentrate. The one thing he'd feared the most had finally happened. He should have put more restraints on Toguro from the start. He returned his mind back to the present and opened his eyes, focusing them on his son, sitting by the bed in a wooden chair set with a blue cushion. Sitting in that chair, hands folded in his lap, upright, looking so prim and proper with his mother's eyes and his mother's face, Koenma regarded his father through a frightened stare. That fear needed to be put to rest. The whole story would have to be told. "Son," he said, drawing strength from the image of his wife in his son's face, "have you ever wondered why The Phoenix Project is called so?"

Koenma shook his head.

"It is called thus because it started out as a search in finding humans with abnormal, or as we termed it, superior qualities. Such as magnificent eyesight, borderline supernatural intuition, and the like. Once the demon was discovered in the group of human test subjects, as you know, things underwent a whole one-hundred eighty degree turn. Demons were studied, the findings utilized, and it was all for the purpose of excelling the human race. In laymen's terms, everything was done for the sole objective of improving humans."

"But I don't understand," Koenma interjected, "what you just said is what everyone at Libra is already aware of. That's the information we're given."

"Think about it, have you ever wondered why the word Phoenix is in there? Seems a little strange for a mythical bird to be the name of a scientific study."

Koenma sat back in the chair, indicating to his father to continue.

"The phoenix," he explained, "is a bird that originates in the myths of Ancient Greece. It is a bird comprised of fiery feathers that will glow brighter the more it ages. However, a phoenix can die, for despite all its wonderful attributes that set it apart from other birds, it is not immortal. When the phoenix dies its body disintegrates into a heap of ash, but that is not the end. From the ashes a new phoenix arises. Strong, powerful, better that its predecessor.

"Do you see my meaning now, Koenma? The Phoenix Project is an objective to bring about a new breed of humans through researching and utilizing the powers of the demons used as test subjects."

Amber eyes as wide as saucers, Koenma could only stare back at his father in shock. His mouth moved in an attempt to form words, but hung slack after a moment, giving up the fight. That was the sole purpose of the Phoenix Project? To bring about a better human species and toss the old ones aside like trash? _No! _Koenma thought, _It can't be! It can't! My father, my father would never allow such a-_

"Koenma?" Enma prodded, interrupting his son's wild train of thought, "Not to point out the obvious, but you're looking quite shocked if I do say so myself."

"But Dad, you...you...would never allow such a thing. You wouldn't! You would fight it tooth and nail, and-"

"That's right, I would have." Enma interrupted. He gave his son a sad smile. "If I had been the one running the lab from the beginning."

Shock plunged an icy weight straight into Koenma's heart.

"What? What are you saying?" Koenma's voice began to rise, "You and Toguro both founded Libra. The lab stemmed from the partnership you two developed while in college, this doesn't make any rational sense at all! Why are you telling me all this now?"

Out in the hall, an orderly carrying some clean sheets jumped and peered into the open doorway. What he could see was a young man, feet planted on either side of him and fists clenched at his sides, grinding his teeth and glaring down at the somewhat older man seated on the bed with all the ferocity of a cornered wolf. The man on the bed looked up at the one standing and shook his head.

"Must you raise your voice in a hospital? I thought I taught you better than that. Besides, you need to be careful," he looked past the young man and fixed the eavesdropping orderly with a pointed stare, "we can't afford to have this conversation overheard."

The orderly took that as a cue and scampered off. Enma turned back to his son. Taking his cue, Koenma sighed and sat back down, motioning for his father to go on.

"Allow me to go back, quite a ways back, to the days when I attended college alongside Toguro. We happened to be partners in a cell biology class, a two-thousand level lab course that, for once, had more than one instructor teaching it. As the days went by, Toguro came to admire me. He said I possessed clear, precise cognitive skills, a sharp mind, and a well-organized manner of thinking. He felt that we were kindred spirits in the scientific world, and that we should strive together. It was after he said that, that I began to notice some strange things about him. He had a cold, unapproachable demeanor towards anyone besides myself, including professors. While he possessed intelligence almost surpassing genius level, and by rights should have bee awed by our fellow classmates, he was feared and all too often avoided.

"Although these things unnerved me, I didn't think too much on them for very long. However, it was one night, when we were working on a project, that everything clicked into place and I fully understood the man who is Toguro. The television was on for the sole purpose of background noise, and a news bulletin aired about how a young girl had been found brutally slaughtered. They gave a few details of the state of the corpse. The limbs had been cut to ribbons, the eyes removed and placed within the palms of the hands, the tongue split in two, the intestines cut out and wrapped around the neck like a necklace. Disgusting. I was unable to say anything, I merely dropped my jaw at the television screen. How, I wondered, could someone, sane or otherwise, commit such a heinous act?

"Toguro however, glanced up once, turned back to the project and muttered 'Tough break.'. It then became clear to me that that man did not value human life at all. To him, they were no more than the dirt upon which he strode. I went back to my apartment that night nauseated over the comment he had made. All night I tossed and turned, wondering if I should say something to someone. But to whom? My other colleagues? Then the word would spread, and I had no idea what would happen to me. The campus counselor? No. Knowing that man, he would try to track down Toguro, and that was the last thing I wanted to happen. I made up my mind that night that I would stay close to this man. I would observe him, and wait for the moment that would someday bring about his downfall."

"But there's one thing I don't understand."

"Oh?"

"If Toguro was the one who started Libra and the Phoenix Project, then it would stand to say that he is the founder and director. That being the case, why is he referred to as the co-director?"

"Once the demon was found amongst the human test subjects, Toguro wanted as little to do with his visionary dream as possible. He transferred control and title over to me, and began searching down new avenues with which he could take his dream, but to no avail. The Phoenix Project was his one and only choice."

Enma looked out the window, now blazing gold as the sunlight streamed directly in. "It is my suspicion that Toguro was behind those attacks on the staff members. Once he realized that using the demons was his only option, he asked me if there was any way to integrate them into the lab as willing test subjects. I informed him that I didn't think such a thing would be possible, as moving them from their respective environments to a sterile lab, where we would have to keep them under constant observation, was bound to cause strife He warned me that my decision of keeping things as they were would prove fatal, as the demons were too dangerous to be trusted. A week later an attack on a scientist occurred. As the attacks became more frequent, I became concerned for my staff, and took Toguro up on the offer. I was so worried about the well-being of the workers, that I completely disregarded Toguro's warning and the timing of which the first attack occurred." Enma sighed. The expulsion of air was heavy with regret. "If I'd been paying more attention to my surroundings, perhaps things would not have ended up as they did."

"So," Koenma said, "if Toguro founded the lab, he also came up with the lab's name. is that correct?"

Enma nodded. "Do you understand the significance of that name?"

Koenma shook his head.

"Libra: a Greek zodiac sign bestowed onto those born between the days of September twenty-third and October twenty-third. The only inanimate symbol if the Greek zodiac, it is represented as a pair of scales, symbolizing balance and order.

"Through the lab, Toguro would bring about his own version of order, and with it, re-balance the world to what he saw as fit."

* * *

**Sorry about the cliff-hangerish ending. Um...yay! I'm back! Sorry about the delay in updating. Anyway, le gasp! The big reveal! There will be more in the upcoming chapter. Sneaky, evil Karasu! The dream Kurama comes to life! Hiro as a spy? Stay tuned readers!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey readers, we're getting into the final loop of BioPattern Rose. Thanks for coming back to the fic, and as always, thanks for the reviews.**

* * *

As the heavy load of information sunk into his brain, Koenma mulled over each and every aspect his father had outlined in his explanation. Creating new humans, balancing the world to fit the view of a madman; it seemed like something out of a science fiction novel. He cast a look at his father's face. The seriousness punctuated by a tightened jaw line reaffirmed Koenma's gut instinct that everything his father just told him was the truth. If any hope at all sat on the horizon, Toguro's frame blocked the view. Koenma sighed.

"What do we do? Is there anything we can do?" he asked.

For two whole, horrendous minutes, Koenma thought he would not receive an answer from his father. The man sat in the bed, looking at the blanket with an expression as blank as the walls around them. Then, he looked up at his son, smiling.

"Yes, there is one thing. I just realized this: when Toguro transferred control over to me, he did it via written contract. If my memory serves, nowhere in that contract did it ever say that if I were to be suspended from the lab indefinitely for some reason, would control shift back to Toguro. Legally speaking, the Phoenix Project is in my hands, under my name. Toguro has no right to take that control back without my consent."

"So what you're saying is, that all we have to do is find this contract, present it to Toguro, and make him transfer control back to you? That seems way too easy."

Enma nodded. "It is. First off, you're going to have to locate the document, which will be no easy task as I suspect Toguro may have either done away with it so he could be prepared if you and I ever had this conversation, or he has it hidden away somewhere under tight lock and key. Second, if you do present it to him, he'll try to find a loophole, or persuade you to see one that isn't there. Believe me Koenma; he's quite skilled at that."

"So what the hell am I supposed to do?" Koenma demanded, throwing his hands up in the air, "I can't let things just go on like this, who knows what will happen!"

"Take things one step at a time: locate the file, let me know when you do, and I'll direct you from there."

Frustration ate away at Koenma's patience. "But how am I supposed to even locate the damned thing?"

"You aren't."

The assistant director blinked in surprise. If not him, then who? Curious eyes blinked once more at the man sitting in the hospital bed. His father was incapable obviously. Botan was out of the question. No way in hell would he bring her into this. Ayame? Perhaps, but using a neutral party might be a bad idea. That left Hiro. Koenma gave his father a quizzical look.

"You want me to use Hiro?"

"Of course." his father responded. He raised a finger, "think about it. If you go in poking around, it'll arouse suspicion immediately."

"But Hiro-" Koenma protested.

"Can execute this action a lot cleaner than you."

Sound logic. Koenma shut his mouth. Silence reclaimed the room for a moment as yet another barrage of thoughts went hurtling through the young man's brain. Yes, his father was correct, Hiro could prove a useful spy to slip behind enemy lines, but how would he go about accomplishing such a task? Toguro was no fool. To top it all off, the man possessed incredible powers of observation. A single speck of dust out of place did not escape his piercing gaze.

"One thing at a time." Enma said. Koenma stared at his father. Enma chuckled. "No, I'm not reading your mind; I'm reading your face. It's pretty easy to tell what you're thinking about."

Koenma hung his head. "And is that why I'm not perfect for the job of infiltration?"

"That and you can't lie very well."

He couldn't help it. Koenma giggled. It was good to hear his father joking again. Hell, it was good to hear the old man talking period. Yawning, Koenma stood, walked over to Enma's bed side, and put a hand on his father's shoulder.

"Thanks for all your help Dad. I'll see what I can do. Get some rest." With that he turned and walked out of the room. However, he stopped in the doorway. Enma raised an eyebrow.

"Something wrong son?" he asked.

Slender fingers tightened their grip on the door frame, turning the knuckles white. In a quiet voice, Koenma said; "Please recover quickly. We need you back at the lab Dad. Now more than ever."

Enma watched his son walk away, looking so small and defeated. The co-founder sighed. What had Toguro done? What had _he _done? He shook his head. Looking at the empty doorway, Enma closed his eyes.

"I'll try Koenma. That's all I can do for now."

* * *

The needle on the speedometer crept up to the sixty-five mark and Botan cursed herself, slipping her foot off the gas pedal, easing the car back down to the safer speed of fifty-five. _Relax _she told herself. Botan sighed and loosened her grip on the wheel. As she rounded another curve, hugging the yellow line, the image of Kurama's face came back to her. White fangs, red blood, the look of sorrow in his eyes. What did it all mean? Her foot began creeping up on the gas pedal as she dove further down into her thoughts. Karasu had said something about changing the face of science, what did that mean? Botan swallowed a cold lump of apprehension and remembered her foot. Thinking about it now wouldn't do her any good. Best to get off the treacherous road, park, and find Kurama. If she could just see him, then she could be sure that it had all been a bad dream. A late-night combination of stress and not enough food.

Just as she finished that thought, the road rounded off, and the parking lot came into view. Behind it, Libra loomed. It reminded Botan of the creepy old houses that they always did a close up on in horror movies-the ones that the camera would pause on for three-fourths of a minute. Even in broad daylight the lab looked foreboding. Her stomach twisted into complicated knots as she pulled into the parking lot and parked in the first available spot she could find. Just a dream, she told herself as she turned off the ignition and unbuckled her seatbelt. Just a dream, just a dream.

Quick feet carried her across the asphalt and through the doors. Upon entry, Ayame glanced up from the lab reports she was holding and greeted the young tech.

"Why hello Botan. Dear me, is it four o' clock already?"

Botan smiled at her and moved on without acknowledging her superior's comment. Ayame called after her.

"Botan! What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in class?"

It seemed she'd realized what time it was after all. Feigning innocence to cover up her exponentially increasing anxiety, Botan looked back over her shoulder.

"Oh, Hiro needed me here for something today, that's all."

"This early?" Ayame questioned.

Botan nodded. "Yeah, he didn't tell me what it was for though."

"I see." Ayame regarded her co-worker with a suspicious look before nodding and continuing on her way. Sighing with relief, Botan began walking towards the east wing of the laboratory. Her eyes scanned left and right as she trekked on towards her destination. She kept her ears peeled for the slightest sound, be it nearby or far away. However, she wasn't able to pick up either soul or sound. Strange. Botan glanced at her watch. The tiny hands showed the time to be eight-thirty. Normally the lab was bustling with people either getting to their posts or just getting on with work; but no matter where she looked or which corridor she turned down, the place seemed empty. It didn't make sense. Heart pounding out a staccato tempo of anxiety, Botan sped up her pace, breezing down the hallway. When she reached the stairs she took them two at a time. She sailed past Koenma's office, not bothering to see if he was in or not. After pushing her way through some closed doors, Botan found herself in front of the doors leading down into the demon's hall.

The eerie silence caused an ominous air to seep out from beneath the heavy wooden doors. This close, and at a complete stop, she could now see the lock dangling off the broken chain. Botan blinked, wondering why that had been put on in the first place. Problematic demons were confined in such a way that escape was next to impossible, so what was the lock for? Botan crept closer, kneeling down once she had reached the door. She took the lock in her hand, mindful of the chain to which it was attached, and gave it a more thorough examination.

_Hm, now that I take a closer look at it_, she thought, turning it over and over in her hand, _it's not like normal locks. Instead of being square, it's round, but it's got a keyhole instead of a combination. It's also big and awful heavy, more like a lock that people use on their storage sheds._ _From what I understand, these kinds are very hard to pick. It still doesn't make sense as to why the door would be locked from the outside if what's within has no means of escaping. So why is it here?_

"That lock is in place so you'll keep asking questions."

Botan yelped and whipped around. A few feet behind her, imposing and creepy as ever, stood Karasu. Cursing her curiosity and bad luck, Botan stood up, smoothing her lab coat as she did so. Karasu walked towards her, stopping once he had her against the door. Icy fear pulsed through her veins; her mouth dried at an alarming rate. Indigo eyes searched her own.

"What are you doing up here?" he asked.

"Oh! Um…just checking up on the demons, mainly Subject 0119. Hiro…um…asked me to. You know, since I'll have to start doing things like this on my own soon, he thought that I-"

"You shouldn't be up here by yourself. It's dangerous." Karasu stated, cutting off her half-truth.

Botan huffed and glared at him, "Would you stop it with the 'all demons are monsters' thing? Some of them happen to be okay."

Karasu shook his head, "Don't be fooled. The ones that are tame are especially dangerous. It's a ploy to make you let your guard down."

"Oh what would you know?" Botan snarled, "You're not even allowed near Subject 0119. And speaking of you, what are you doing over here anyway? Aren't you normally downstairs at this time of day?"

"I came to fetch you."

Botan blinked. She regarded Karasu for a moment, fear creeping back into her body, frosting over the blood in her veins, "What?"

"There's a meeting downstairs. It's imperative that everyone working at Libra be present."

The lab tech opened her mouth to ask why Hiro had not been to one to retrieve her, but Karasu, sensing her question, answered her.

"Unfortunately, I cannot locate Hiro at the moment. Had I been able to do so, I would have had him collect you immediately." Karasu turned away from her and began walking back down the hall, "Now that I've updated you, I suggest you get going. As I said, it's imperative that everyone working at Libra be present." He called, not bothering to look back over his shoulder. Botan watched him depart, his figure growing smaller and smaller until he rounded the corner and disappeared from her sight. She glanced back at the door. Should she ignore Karasu and head in anyway? Standing outside the door, her need to see Kurama was fiercer than ever, but something in the back of her mind told her that if she was not present for the meeting she would regret it. Botan suppressed an aggravated groan and walked away. Hopefully the meeting wouldn't be too long.

* * *

Anxiety and mounting tensions chilled the atmosphere as Botan followed her co-workers. She kept an eye out for Hiro, hoping to spot him and get an update on what was going on. She tried to tell herself that it was just a meeting to decide whether or not to update the equipment, but she knew that was wrong. If that had been the case, then the only people who would need to attend a meeting like that would be Koenma, Toguro, Hiro, and Karasu. To involve everyone meant that something big was going to happen.

"Botan!"

Botan whipped around. A few feet away and waving frantically, stood Hiro. Relieved, Botan jogged towards him.

"What on Earth are you doing here this early?" he asked when she reached him.

Long fingers played with the fabric of her lab coat. Botan chewed on her lip, trying to decide whether or not to tell Hiro the truth. After a few second's indecision, she decided to tell Hiro as much of the truth as she could.

"I have a really strong feeling that something bad is going to happen, and I think it involves Subject 0119, so I came here to check on him."

Hiro sighed, "While I can't say I disagree with you on your premonition of evil being afoot, I will say that your actions were a bit rash." He then looked out over the crowd of scientists and techs streaming into a large, carpeted room, "However, I think that coming here today at this time was the right thing to do."

"Do you have any idea what the meeting's about?" Botan asked as the two of them resumed walking.

"No, I don't. All I know is that Toguro's the one who called this meeting."

Botan sighed, apprehension gnawing a hole inside her chest, "Where's Koenma?"

"Still at the hospital talking to Enma." Hiro replied. The two of them crossed the threshold and stepped into the meeting room. In the center of the room sat a large oak table, flanked on both sides by a plethora of high-backed leather chairs. Thin curtains had been drawn, which would have given the room a sleepy look if nor for all the people assembled in it. Someone went to pull back a curtain, but was ordered to sit back down. Botan spotted Ayame, who waved the two of them over. People continued to stream in as Botan and Hiro made their way over to Ayame. Just as they were about to sit down, Hiro's cell phone went off.

Apologies tumbled out of Hiro's mouth and he flipped it open, thumb on the 'disregard' button, when a look at the caller ID brought him up short.

"Who is it?" Botan asked, peering at the phone in Hiro's hand.

"It's Koenma."

"Take it." Botan told him, she dropped her voice down a few notches, "knowing him, and concerning the current situation, it's bound to be important."

Hiro nodded and zipped out of the room. Botan took a seat by Ayame, watching as the last few stragglers made their way in and sat down. Once everyone had been accounted for, the man standing by the door closed it and took his own seat. Silence enveloped the room in a thick shroud. Someone coughed. Chair legs scraped against the carpet as it was scooted further to the table. A steady, low, pounding came from further up the table. The person creating the sound was then told to quit drumming their fingers. Botan fidgeted in her seat and threw a questioning look at Ayame who shrugged in reply. Pink eyes darted left and right, scanning the room for the man who had called the meeting. No luck; Toguro was nowhere in sight. She couldn't even spot Karasu. Sitting in the semi-lit room, Botan laced her hands in her lap and studied the table.

What was taking so long? Inside her chest, her heart hammered away at lightning speed. What did Toguro want? Was it about the demons? Were they going to be terminated? What about the lab, what would happen to the lab? Botan shook her head. _Calm down, _she told herself, _you're getting yourself way too worked up. Hiro's on the phone with Koenma. Hopefully, Koenma's thought two steps ahead and is giving Hiro tips on what to do. If anyone knows what to do right now, it'll be Koenma. _

Satisfied that things would be alright, Botan sat back. At that moment, the sound of a door opening caught her attention. In the far right corner of the room, a door swung open. Toguro strode in, Karasu trailing close behind like a shadow. Every person stared at Toguro, each silently asking the same question. The behemoth man stopped at the head of the table. Karasu situated himself to the far left of the lab's head director and leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. Far down near the end of the table, Botan's gaze lingered on him for a moment before she turned her attention back to Toguro. The man in question observed the seated staff members, making sure everyone was present. Once he was sure that he had everyone gathered, he began to speak.

"I would like to thank you all for coming today to attend this very urgent meeting. Now I understand many of you are quite anxious to know what this meeting is about, and so I will tell you." The weak light straining through the curtains bounced off the ebon lenses of his sunglasses, "This meeting is about Libra's future…" He paused for a moment, then shook his head, ignoring the shocked faces of those before him, "No, let me rephrase that. This is not about Libra's future per se, but it is about the future of the Phoenix Project, which bears this lab the most fruit in its labors. Tell me, do any of you know the purpose of the Phoenix Project?"

Ayame raised her hand. Toguro inclined his head in her direction.

"The goal of the Phoenix Project is to use the findings we gather from the lab and put them towards already existing medical studies. In other words, we take the results we gather from the demon testing and use them to better the life quality of humans."

Toguro smirked, "A noble goal indeed, but what if I were to tell you that there was more needed to be done than just testing on the subjects we have gathered here at the lab?"

Silence met his inquiry. Botan tensed, dreading what the answer might be. Everyone else stared hard at Toguro, almost trying to discern the answer from behind the man's thick shades. Toguro extended his hand into the air.

"We must do more than record our findings. The path of Libra is not one of medical science, but one of eugenics. We have done more than enough in regards to our research and now we must implement the Phoenix Project as it was meant to be; we must move on from collecting our data and put it to use. We must advance the Phoenix Project from its current state into its second phase."

Nearby, a man raised his hand. Toguro indicated for him to speak. The man put his hand back down and glanced over the faces of everyone else assembled. His Adam's apple bobbed in his throat and he took a breath.

"I-If I may be permitted to ask…what will be done in this second phase you're speaking of?"

"Simple," Toguro replied. The smirk on his face grew into a horrid sneer, "we move the testing from the demons, to us."

* * *

The tapping of hurried feet echoed throughout the empty corridors. A black and white blur zipped around a corner and stopped outside a closed door. From behind his glasses, Koenma's aide examined the plaque upon the wood. Printed on the sleek, black surface in silver letters, Toguro's name glared down at him. Hiro gulped and reached for the doorknob. He turned the knob, and, to his surprise, found the door to be unlocked. Hiro glanced around to be safe, then stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.

As he stood inside Toguro's office, taking in the surroundings, he felt like a young soldier who'd wandered deep into enemy territory. He took a few breaths to calm himself and placed a hand over his heart. The organ pounded out an allegro tempo of anxiety, but the more deep, slow breaths he took, the slower his heart beat. Once he had everything under control, he went straight to Toguro's desk. In his mind, he replayed the instructions Koenma had given him.

_" I need you to do something for me. See if you can sneak into Toguro's office and locate a contract concerning the control of the Phoenix Project. Although I can't describe it to you, it will probably be somewhere tucked away in a folder. Once you've located the contract, filch it and notify me- it's crucial that you do. I'll explain everything later."_

And before Hiro could ask questions, the dial tone had rung in his ear. Now, here he crouched, bent paper clip in hand, preparing to pick the lock on a drawer in Toguro's desk. As he inserted the tool into the lock, he thanked the Gods of luck for the meeting. With Toguro, Karasu and everyone else occupied, he could execute his task without fear of being caught. A few wiggling motions, a nip, and a small twist and the drawer sprung open. Hiro smirked and for once was grateful for the lock pick skills his sister had bestowed upon him when they were younger. Wasting not a minute more, Hiro pulled open the drawer and began rifling through the files contained within.

Case study, case study, case study, data output report, countless lab reports, but no contract. Sighing, Hiro shut the bottom drawer and moved to the one above it. Four desk drawers later and he had found nothing. Hiro moved onto the file cabinet and continued lock picking and snooping. Same result. Gritting his teeth in frustration, Hiro's eyes swept the bookshelves, hoping to find something. The books on the shelves regarded him with apathetic stares. _Give up, _they seemed to say, _you're probably not going to find it. Either Koenma's sent you on a wild goose chase, or Toguro's thought one step ahead of you and destroyed that contract because he knew someone would come sniffing around for it. _Hiro shook his head. No, he was not being sent on a wild goose chase, and for as meticulous as Toguro was, he was also quite arrogant. As far as Hiro could guess, since everyone else assumed the Phoenix Project was under Enma's control, the only people who knew about the contract at the time of its drafting and signing had been Toguro and Enma. Therefore, it made sense that Toguro would make the assumption that there would be no need to destroy the contract because he was the only person still inside Libra who knew of its existence.

With the desk and file cabinet searched through, the only option left was the bookcase. Confusion dropped a mental block on him as he walked over to examine the shelves. Where the heck would he start? The towering object went clear from almost the ceiling to the floor, and six out of the seven shelves were nearly crammed full of books. Sighing, the aide squatted in front of the very bottom shelf and began leafing through each of the books in hopes that he might find the contract stuck between the pages. Probably a hopeless move, but he'd heard plenty of stories where a will had been found hidden between the pages of an old, dusty tome. Call him desperate and foolish, but Hiro was willing to search wherever he could. After a couple more shelves gave him nothing more than the books they contained, Hiro groaned. He stood up and placed a hand on the shelf above him and leaned against the bookcase. As he stood there, despairing about what he would do if the coveted item could not be located, something caught his eye.

The books in the middle of the fourth shelf were raised just a bit higher than the ones on either side. Curious, Hiro tried to push them back down, but they were wedged in so tight they wouldn't budge. Hiro raised an eyebrow and wiggled one of the books free from the shelf. It popped out of its chamber of confinement and sank gratefully into Hiro's hands. He was about to look through that one when the second mystery presented itself. Instead of the rich brown oak which the rest of the bookshelf was made out of, the spot underneath the book he'd pulled out was black. When he touched it, he found the surface to have a smooth, plastic-like texture. He ran his finger towards the back of the black patch and found edges. A piece of paper? No, whatever this was, it was thicker. A binder? No, too thin. Then it clicked. Maybe it was a folder. Excitement racing through him, Hiro removed the rest of the books in the middle and, to his delight, found a black folder that had been resting underneath the books. Hiro snatched it and opened it up, thumbing through the papers. Nothing worth noting in the left pocket- in fact it was just blank printer paper. Aggravation set the bile in his throat rising. He began going through the papers in the right pocket and was about to throw the folder down when he noticed the back of one of the papers appeared to have something on it. Hiro pulled it out of the folder and turned it over, praying it was what he was looking for. It was.

At the top of the paper were the words "Directing the Phoenix Project". Hiro skimmed down the page until he found what he was looking for.

"And by signing this contract, full control of the Phoenix Project will be transferred from Libra's founder and director over to the co-founder. Signed Toguro and Enma Daioh." Hiro read, smiling as he did so, "This is it! I've found it. Yeesh, finally."

Task complete, Hiro stuck the folder back in its original position and set the books back on the shelf. He went around to the desk and file cabinet and double checked the drawers to make sure that he'd used his mighty paper clip to re-lock them. After his clipless efforts to get back into the desk and cabinet proved unsuccessful, Hiro smiled, folded the contract, and stuck it in his lab coat. He walked out of the office and down the hall, digging his phone out of his pants pocket as he went.

"Mission complete." He said to himself as he flipped his phone on and punched in Koenma's number.

* * *

"What the hell do you mean 'move the testing to us'? I didn't apply for this job to be your guinea pig!"

"Damn straight! Why do you need to test on us anyway? And what's with all this babble about eugenics anyway Toguro?"

"You're not going to turn us into demons are you? If that's how you want to do things, count me out!"

Toguro stood at the head of the room, observing the angry three who voiced what everyone else had been thinking. Botan gulped, afraid of how the towering man of muscle would react, when Karasu strode up beside Toguro, sighing.

"Everyone please calm down. The tests that Toguro speaks of are merely compatibility tests and nothing more. Rest assured that you will not have to fight drones, or have electrode measuring equipment attached to you as you run your legs off on a treadmill, or worse, be injected with a deadly bacterium to see how your body fights it off."

"Compatibility?" A red-haired woman snorted, "And just what is that supposed to mean? Compatible for what? To what? How are you going to test this 'compatibility'?"

"Relax," Karasu replied, "blood will be drawn and synch patterns evaluated and matched to find the person most compatible. To put it in simple terms: all that you will need to do is give one vial of blood. Nothing more, nothing less."

Anxious glances were shared by all. The red-haired woman huffed, confused and irritated.

"But you never told us what we might be compatible for."

"That's because it is none of your concern, Miriko." Toguro said. The deep rumble and sudden resurgence of his voice made the woman, Miriko, jump. Her gaze flicked to Toguro where the flames of anger popped, sputtered, and then died. She looked back to Karasu, then towards her peers, searching for someone to refute her point. No one said anything. The three who had previously stood up had taken their seats after Toguro had spoken. Miriko looked back at Toguro one last time and decided it best if she took her seat as well. Toguro smirked.

For a full minute, a tense silence stretched taut threads throughout the room. Then, from the back, one of the threads broke and someone spoke.

"Erm…Toguro, I have to admit I'm curious; if it's not our concern, then whose is it?"

"The concern of the four people who are found to be compatible. As for who they are, they will know once the data presents itself. Karasu or myself will inform them personally."

"S-So…we're sitting ducks then?" Miriko asked, hiding her trembling hands in her lap.

"It won't be as dangerous as you think." Toguro said, not sounding reassuring in the least.

Next to Botan, Ayame fidgeted in her seat. Her eyes darted around the room for a moment before she spoke up.

"Um…I have a question: How will we know of we're compatible or not?"

"You won't, but we will," Toguro responded, gesturing both to himself and Karasu.

Frightened glances and whispers spread from person to person. Botan and Ayame looked at each other. Ayame's hazel eyes took up half of her head, her mouth hung slightly agape, as if to say "Can you believe this?". Botan blinked back at her friend, communicating her shock, then turned to view everyone in turn. They all had their eyes on Toguro, waiting for him to say something, anything of possible reassurance. The man in question said nothing, instead he gazed out at the assembled staff. Botan could have sworn she saw him smiling, even if it was just a tiny bit. To her right, another tech folded his hands on the table and narrowed his eyes.

"If Enma were here," he said, glaring up at Toguro, "I doubt he would allow us to be turned into experiments."

"Ryu, what the hell are you doing?" whispered the man next to him. At the front of the room, Toguro cocked his head. Karasu's eyes glittered with vile mirth.

"What?" Ryu asked, never taking his eyes off Toguro, "I know it's true. Enma surely would have found a different way to continue the Phoenix Project that didn't involve using the staff at Libra. He would never have allowed you to do something so hideous to your own co-workers."

"I'm sorry to hear you feel that way. However, know that even if Enma were to return, his presence would change nothing. I would continue this testing, with or without his consent." Toguro responded.

Ryu's glare intensified, "So you would fight your superior?"

Toguro smirked, "What do you plan to do Ryu? It's not like your fit of defiance will change this. This was inevitable, from the very moment the Phoenix Project began."

"I thought as much," he said, standing up. He pushed in his chair and walked towards the door.

"And where are you going?" Karasu called after him.

Ryu stopped and curled his hand around the door knob, "While I realize the futility of fighting you on this, I still believe this is wrong. If nothing else, be ready to accept my resignation letter." With that, he opened the door and strode out of the room. The sound of the door shutting echoed in the heavy silence. All those seated stared at the door until the abrupt sound of Toguro clearing his throat brought their attention back to him.

"Does anyone else have a problem?"

No one said a word.

"Good," he said, "with that concluded, this meeting is over. Compatibility testing will begin in a few days' time. Now, you all are permitted to leave and carry on with the rest of your day."

Chair legs scraped the floor as several people rose at once and half jogged, half walked towards the door. People flooded out at twice the speed at which they had arrived. Botan stood by the door, waiting for the tide of bodies to slacken so she could slip out of the room and back up to the second floor. A quick glance at her watch confirmed the time to be nine-thirty. She tapped her foot and tutted to herself when the flow jammed, further stalling her.

"Are you thinking about heading back upstairs? Without someone else with you, I wouldn't advise it."

Botan whipped around to see Karasu standing a couple feet from her with his arms crossed. The lab-tech sighed. It seemed she wouldn't be winning the argument any time soon.

"Yes, I'm going back upstairs, but I'm also waiting for Hiro to come back so he can accompany me," she replied, hoping her slight change in plans would get him off her back.

However, it was to no avail, "You have no idea when he'll be back. You should let me accompany you."

"Thank you, but that's not necessary. This deals with Subject 0119."

Karasu's right eye twitched, "Him again? You know, you've been getting a little friendly with him lately. In fact, if you ask me, I think your friendliness with him goes beyond professional boundaries," he strode towards her and thrust his face into hers, "when are you going to realize he's a dangerous creature who's just playing you like a chess piece?"

Before Botan could lash out with a razor-sharp retort, a hand clapped down on her shoulder. Botan jumped and turned to see Hiro smiling at her.

"Hiro, welcome back. What did Koenma want?" she asked.

Hiro glanced at Karasu, before answering her inquiry, "He called and told me that his father's woken up and is doing a lot better."

"Really? That's great." Botan said, clapping her hands together.

"It took him that long to convey that little bit of information to you?" Karasu remarked, raising an eyebrow. Suspicion infected his tone, giving his voice a sour sound.

Hiro's eyes glittered, "Oh no, that's not all he told me. Koenma gave me details on his father's path to recovery, babbled on and on about that actually, then the conversation took different routes from there, and after that he ended the call. Simple as that," Hiro's sunny smile turned into a contemptuous smirk, "Why do you ask?"

Karasu's facial features replied in kind: a leer curled upon his lips and his eyes glinted like twin daggers, "Oh, just curious. You were gone for an entire hour, your presence was missed. Speaking of which, you my friend missed an important meeting regarding the direction of Libra and the Phoenix Project. As Koenma's personal aide, it would benefit both you and your superior to attend regardless of whatever matters occur outside."

"Well, 'my friend'," Hiro replied, "I'm sure that there are certain circumstances that allow for a few loopholes."

Botan blinked, looking back and forth between the two aides. What was going on here? The situation reminded her of two male cats facing off. She looked at Hiro and pictured him as a tabby-cat with its ears laid back and fangs bared. Her eyes roved to Karasu and she saw a scarred black cat lashing its tail in agitation, sheathing and unsheathing it's claws. The two of them continued to stare at each other for a moment, then Karasu turned to Botan.

"Ah yes, Botan, I was just about to accompany you upstairs to the demon corridor in the west wing."

"Actually," Hiro cut in, pulling Botan close to him, "she'll be coming with me for a little bit. There are a few things I've still neglected to inform her of."

"I see. Very well, I've got a few things of my own to take care of as well." Karasu said, a smile instantly plastering itself on his face. Without another word, he brushed past the two of them, sticking his hands in his pockets. Botan stared after the aide for a moment, still trying to process what she had just seen. Had Hiro just been cocky and snide with Karasu? Hiro, of all people?

A pair of snapping fingers in front of her face jerked her out of her thoughts.

"Botan? You in there? I need to talk to you."

"Huh? Oh, yeah! Sorry!" Botan apologized, rubbing the back of her head with her hand. Hiro sighed and shut the door. After making sure the door was locked, he turned his attention to the upper corners of the room. He squinted, trying to discern something different from the norm. When his search yielded no results, he began scanning the floorboards.

"Hiro…what are you doing?" Botan asked. Okay, now she was_ really_ confused.

"This is going to sound weird, but I'm checking for cameras."

"Oka-Wait, what? Why?"

"Because I don't trust Toguro; especially not after what I just found out, which," he said, concluding his search, and walking back towards her, "is what I need to talk to you about."

Botan nodded, "Okay."

He pulled a folded piece of paper out of a pocket in his lab-coat and handed it to her, "Read this."

Botan took it from him, unfolded it, and began to read. When she read the last line on the page, she looked up at Hiro open-mouthed.

"Hiro…we," she began, "we could get him in court for this! This is a legal document that he's violating, never mind the fact that he's the one who wrote it, and it says in black and white that in no event would power ever be switched back." She announced. Glee zipped through her body, causing her to bounce up and down. By violating the terms of his contract, Toguro had broken the written rule, which would surely bring some sort of punishment down upon him. Euphoric happiness skittered along the wiring of her brain. They could nab him for this, kick him to the curb, and Enma would be better by the time they were done. Perfect!

Koenma's aide nodded, took the paper from her, and stuffed it back in his pocket. His eyes shone with the same happiness that radiated out from Botan's body, but they were also veiled by a cautious expression.

"While I admit you're correct, we could take him to court for violating a binding document, we can't do it right at the moment."

"And why not?" Botan pouted. The proof was right in front of them. It was in black and white. All they had to do was present it to a judge, and things would work themselves out. It was a simple procedure.

Sensing the gist of her thought process, Hiro shook his head, "It's not that simple Botan. First off, I would have to explain how I came to be in possession of this document in the first place; and they won't look favorably upon us when it comes out that I sneaked in and filched it when no one was looking. That's why my plan is to make a photocopy of this, sneak the original back into Toguro's office, and then wait until Enma comes back. Since he's supposed to be the only one besides Toguro who knows of the contract's existence, it wouldn't be suspicious if Enma were to be the one to take Toguro to court over this. If we try to do it, then we'll get into some pretty big trouble because we broke the rules too."

He looked at Botan, "Do you understand what I'm saying? I need you to keep a tight lid on this for now. We'll bide our time until Enma comes back to Libra."

"And if he doesn't?" Botan asked

Hiro shrugged, "At this point, I really can't say."

Botan looked at Hiro while the man in question looked off into space. She chose to ignore his statement about how he had snuck into Toguro's office and stolen the document. Considering what she'd just heard about the entire staff being used as guinea pigs, Hiro's little unscrupulous deed wasn't that big of a deal. Botan shook her head to clear her mind and walked towards the door. Then, she remembered her initial reason for arriving at Libra so early in the morning.

"Uh, Hiro?" she asked, "May I go up and see Subject 0119?"

Yanked off his train of thought, Hiro turned towards her, "Sorry, what was that?"

Botan ground her toe into the floor, "May…May I please go see Subject 0119?" she begged, clapping her hands together.

Hiro cocked his head to one side, "Yeah, sure. I don't see why not. After all, there's no reason to worry about him." Botan smiled and ran over to Hiro, kissing him on the cheek.

"Thank you so much!" she squealed. Leaving Hiro behind, she stepped out into the hall and made her way over to the staircase in the west wing. About half-way up, she bumped into Karasu. Trying to right herself, her right foot slipped and she began to fall backwards. Karasu reached out and grabbed her.

"Careful." He said, steadying her.

"What are you doing up here?"

"Remember? I said I had some business to attend to."

Botan nodded and slid her wrist from his grip, "I see."

"Still heading to Subject 0119?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Yes, I am." Botan stated, crossing her arms. He wouldn't stop her. Not here, not when she was so close. Even though the image was fading, the terror still resided in her heart, and the colors kept flashing through her mind. Scarlet blood, ivory fangs, and the ebon, icy terror that had welled up within her bosom. She needed to see Kurama. So she continued to stare down Karasu, hoping to exasperate him to the point where he would just give up and stop pushing his issue.

Karasu sighed, "Very well, go on."

A trumpet call of victory sounded in Botan's mind and she began to walk around him. However, when she placed her foot on the next step, Karasu grabbed her arm.

"Will Hiro be with you?"

Botan resisted the urge to groan and roll her eyes. It seemed Karasu was determined to keep pushing the envelope. She didn't know if Hiro was coming with her, and she really didn't want him accompanying her on this personal mission of hers.

"Hiro's not coming with me. I don't need him around because Subject 0119 won't do anything to hurt me. He's completely different from the rest of the demons here."

Violet eyes scrutinized her. After a moment, Karasu sighed and released her, "Fine, go on. But don't say I didn't warn you."

This time Botan did roll her eyes. Pushing past Karasu, she continued making her way upstairs. Her quick feet carried her to Kurama's cage door in a matter of minutes. Botan paused. This close to her goal, her heartbeat raged in her chest. She clenched a tight fist over her left breast, almost as if she was afraid that her heart would leap out if it beat any harder. A sticky lump of fear crawled down her throat and sat in the pit of her stomach like a small rock. Why did she feel so anxious? Nothing was wrong. Taking a deep breath, Botan opened the door and peeked inside. Near the far wall stood a bed. Dominating the middle was a lump all wrapped up in the voluminous white sheets.

"Kurama?" she called.

The lump stirred. Bright red hair shot out from beneath the white sheets. Botan stilled a shiver that tried to course through her when she saw the bright red of his hair. Green eyes followed the red hair out from the fabric burrow, blinking away grogginess. Finally, his whole upper half was free and he stretched, letting loose a yawn as he did so. He shook his head to clear away the last of sleep's fog then swung his legs out of bed. Botan was a bit surprised to see him in casual clothing.

"Hey Botan. Sorry if I look a bit scruffy."

Botan smiled and entered, closing the door behind her, "No, it's fine. Besides, the bed-head look suits you."

She walked towards the bed and sat down next to him. "So, how are you doing?"

"Alright."

" 'Alright'?" Botan echoed.

Kurama looked at his arm, "Don't get me wrong, I am fine, it's just that when you woke me up, I noticed my arm started to sting a little."

"Huh, that's weird," Botan remarked. She leaned over to get a better look at the fox demon's arm. Marring the pale skin was a purple-green bruise with a tint of red in the center, "Where did that bruise come from?"

"I'm not sure." Kurama replied. He lowered his arm and turned to her. Small lights sparkled in his eyes as he smiled at her, "So, what brings you by today?"

Botan averted her eyes to her lap, "Well…um, I had a frightening dream last night, and I-I know it won't come true, but it still frightened me."

"A frightening dream?" Kurama asked, cocking his head.

Botan nodded.

"What was it about?"

"Um…you…" Botan sighed and closed her eyes, "I'm not sure I want to talk about it." She opened her eyes and looked up at Kurama, "The point is, now that I'm here, I don't need to worry about it anymore."

Kurama blinked at her. Confusion smeared his facial features into an odd formation, "Okay…"

Botan flashed him a grin, "Trust me! Everything's fine."

Placated by her insistence, Kurama smiled, "Alright, I believe you."

The two of them lapsed into silence. A cool breeze wafted in through the open balcony door. Off in the distance, a swallow poured its heart into a sudden song. Botan's eyes moved over the books in the shelves. Curious, she walked over and began examining some of the titles and author names. _Contact, Swan Song, _and _Don Quixote _sat amongst various Asimov collections and a good portion of Stephen King novels. Kurama watched her as she frowned when she read a title or author name she hadn't heard of; he smiled when he saw her eyes light up when she came across something she knew. He opened his mouth to say something, but his comment turned into a hiss of pain. His arm throbbed in time with his heart beat and he could feel the bruise getting hot. He looked at his arm, anxiety welling up within him. This wasn't right. He had never felt this way before. _On top of that, _he thought, _I have no idea where this bruise came from. I know for a fact no experiments were performed on me yesterday._ A light pressure on his shoulder made him jump. His head shot up and he found himself staring into expressive, bright fuchsia eyes. Transfixed, he stared back.

"Are you alright?"

The scent of her breath wafted near his sensitive nose and he smelled the citrus tang of the orange she'd eaten for breakfast that morning. Overlaying this was the intoxicating aroma of vanilla, and laying just beneath was another smell; sweeter, fresher, so full of youth and vitality. Kurama gulped. Now he was frightened. He was used to smelling Botan's usual scent of vanilla, but never did it assail his nostrils like this. And what was with that scent lingered below? Why was it there? Why was it so captivating?

"Kurama?"

The bruise on his arm sent another wave of pain blasting through him. Kurama growled and doubled over, clutching the throbbing limb. What the hell was going on? Waves of heat coursed up and down his arm, fanning out to his shoulder and right pectoral muscle. The hand on his shoulder shook him.

"Hey! What's wrong?"

Her scent washed over him. This time, that unidentifiable scent was much stronger. Just a whiff sent an electrical current coursing through him. An image flashed through his mind. Sharp teeth, soft flesh, a crimson spray of blood. Kurama shot off the bed, past Botan and thumped back against the bookshelf. Something was wrong, something was very wrong.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Botan take a tentative step towards him.

"Kura-"

"Stay away!" he barked.

Botan drew back, fear glittering in her eyes, "But…but you're in pain. I have to do something."

"Leave. That's what you can do."

The lab-tech drew herself up and shot him an acidic glare, "What? I don't think so! I'm not about to leave you here when you in such horrible pain!" She strode towards the demon. Ignoring the screaming of her instincts, she stopped a hair's breadth from him, "I won't leave you. I'll call Hiro and we'll have him see what's going on, but I'm not going to leave you here to suffer."

"Don't be foolish!" he snarled, grabbing her shoulders. He gripped them with such force that she could feel the joint groan in the socket. For one terrifying moment, Botan thought he was going to pop both shoulders out of socket. His eyes burned into her own. They kept changing color; flashing to a bright, wild gold, then back to his normal gentle green, then back to gold, then back to green.

"Kurama…what…"

Kurama growled and shoved his face into hers. One moment, fiery gold eyes demanded her attention, the next frantic green glared at her, "Leave Botan. You have to leave. I have no idea what's happening, but I do know that you shouldn't stick around."

"No! I'm worried about you!"

Grinding his teeth, Kurama let go. Botan took a deep breath and prepared to try and calm him down. Before she could open her mouth, she saw a white blur, and in the next instant she was bouncing off the far wall. She forgot how to breathe and went sliding lifelessly to the floor. Once she touched the cold floor, the shock brought back a gasp to her lungs, which set off a bout of coughing. The back of her head beat out of rhythm of dull pain as she pushed herself to her feet. She put a hand to her chest and was surprised when she felt something wet. Botan looked down at her hand and found a swathe of scarlet smeared across her palm. Her snow-white lab coat was painted a vibrant red. _Where did all this red come from? Is it… Am I…_

A soft plip drew her attention to the floor where she saw tiny red drops grouping together. Botan gasped and the pain came crashing down upon her. She sunk to her knees, cradling both her abdomen and chest. She looked across the room at Kurama and nearly screamed at what she saw.

Against the bookshelf, glowering at her with fierce flashing eyes, with long claws dripping blood, her blood, stood Kurama. She swallowed. He shimmered and then was gone. Botan blinked in confusion then yelped in pain and fear as two hands picked her up by the shoulders and pinned her against the wall.

Kurama panted. The sweet smell of her blood clogged his nostrils. Saliva pooled in his mouth and he swallowed, trying to fight whatever urge was trying to overcome him down. _Calm down, calm down. If I don't try to control whatever this is, then I'll end up hurting her quite badly. I need to control this, but I need to do a good enough performance to the point that I'll terrify her enough to convince her to leave._ He squeezed her shoulders again, mindful of the creaking joints beneath his hands.

"I'll say it once more: Leave."

Botan whimpered. Through the haze, Kurama felt a stirring of sympathy. Another wave of pain ripped through is body, making his spider-thread of control falter. He winced, but focused his gaze on her. The fear in her eyes, the light coating of sweat on her face, they way her top two teeth peeked out from her mouth and chewed her bottom lip. He hated himself, but her safety-well her life at this point because he was quite sure that any regards to her safety had been thrown out the window- was far more important, and this had to be done.

"Leave." He repeated, lowering his voice to a threatening growl.

Botan trembled. She had no idea why Kurama was acting this way. Images from her dream flashed through her mind. White fangs, red blood, claws. Everything had come true, yet none of it made sense. He kept telling her to leave over and over again, that meant something was seriously wrong. Didn't it? She was scared for herself, but terrified for Kurama. For him to be acting so out of character, something had to be off.

"But…I-I…" she stuttered. Talking around the lump of fear in her throat was difficult.

Kurama growled and threw her. Botan screamed when her bruised shoulder knocked against the tile floor. She curled up in a ball, whole body throbbing in pain. Her heart pounded no longer out of fear but exertion, her breathing became ragged, and her midsection screamed in agony. _I have no idea how deep he cut me, or how much blood I'm losing. My shoulders are pretty bruised up by the feel of them, but luckily they aren't dislocated. Still, this blood loss is bad… _Nearby she heard Kurama hiss. A cold shot of fear zipped down her spine. She curled in further, tucking her head into her bloody chest. Fear replacing concern, Botan lay on the floor, trembling. _I don't know what's going on, but I want it to be over soon. I've never been this scared in my life. What if I die? Oh my God, what if I die? I don't want to die, I don't want to die, don't want to die, don't want to die, don't want to die, don't-_

At that moment, the door flew open.

"Enough!" shouted a familiar voice. Botan tried to place it. It wasn't Hiro or Koenma, and it was too deep to be Ayame's.

The demon responded with a growl. Botan heard him leap, followed by a soft thump, then a hard thud as something heavy hit the floor. She continued to lay on the floor, waiting for the killing blow to come. Instead, she felt a gentle hand lay itself on her shoulder. Botan gasped in pain and the hand pulled itself back.

"Botan? Can you hear me?" the voice asked.

Botan uncrossed her arms and raised her head. She blinked, clearing away the sudden thick fog obscuring her vision. Purple eyes stared at her shining with worry. Botan blinked again.

"Botan?" Karasu repeated.

"K-Karasu?" Botan rasped. The slash wounds throbbed. Botan winced. Karasu stood up and lifted her to her feet, mindful of her shoulders and wounds. As he was hauling her to her feet, she looked behind him and saw Kurama sprawled on the floor unconscious. Once she was on her feet, Karasu wrapped an arm around her back, supporting her as he guided her towards the door. Botan looked back at Kurama.

"I had to knock him unconscious to get to you. I didn't hurt him, just gave him a sharp whack on the occipital bone."

Botan nodded, faintly registering the words Karasu spoke. All that she could think about was how Kurama had attacked her. She didn't believe it, couldn't believe it. Led by Karasu, she made it out the door. Karasu reached behind him and closed the door with his free hand. Once the door was secure, he lowered her to the floor so she could rest. Botan stared at her lab coat. Very few spots on it were still white. He had cut her that deep. Her breath hitched in her throat. He attacked her. _Kurama attacked her._

"Didn't I warn you?"

Botan's head jerked up. She stared at Karasu, "But Ku- I mean Subject 00119 is different! Or…at least I thought he was…" she trailed off as her lowered her gaze back down to her bloody coat.

"He attacked you," Karasu stated, "when it boiled down to it, he was no different than the rest of the monsters that reside here."

"He attacked me," Botan whispered, "he attacked me." Tears rolled down her face. She looked up at Karasu; her eyes wide and pleading, "but why? Why would he do that?"

"Because he's a demon. It's like domesticating an animal. You can't truly change what lies beneath, they will always be vicious creatures at heart. That is why I told you over and over again that no matter the disposition, a demon is still a demon."

"I'm sorry," Botan sniffed.

Karasu cupped he cheek with his hand, "It's alright Botan. Just stay by me. You're safe now."

* * *

**Jeez, finally! I never thought I'd make it to the end of this chapter. Anyways, drop me a review and tell me how I did. The next chapter will be the last.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello and welcome to BioPattern Rose Chapter Ten! This is the first-to-last chapter, and I'm so sorry it took this long! I hope you all can forgive me!**

* * *

Time blurred into an incomprehensible slur that came to an abrupt end when Botan's mind went through an overhaul re-boot and she found herself seated across a desk from Karasu in a small office wearing a crisp, clean, new lab coat. Blinking in confusion, she looked around, trying to discern where she was and how she had ended up here. After racking her brain and failing to come up with an answer, she turned her gaze to the man seated across the desk. Karasu sat in a black swivel chair, hunched over and scanning the papers scattered in front on him. To his right sat a mug of what Botan took to be coffee by the strong scent of it. Toguro's aide tapped his right index finger on the surface of the desk and sighed in agitation. He straightened up and leaned back in the chair, running long, ivory fingers through his ebon bangs. Another sigh puffed out of his lungs and he affixed the papers on his desk with a stern glare. Botan wondered what could be in them that made the feared and respected aide behave like a ticked off cat.

Finally sensing the eyes on him, Karasu glanced up and smiled.

"Hey there."

Before Botan's freshly coherent mind could formulate a response, a mug, containing black, bitter-smelling liquid was thrust at her.

"Here, drink this."

Confused, she took the ceramic mug from his hand and wrapped her fingers around the smooth surface and glanced out the window.

"It's the middle of the day."

"Actually, it's late afternoon, but what's your point?" he asked, returning his gaze once more to the papers on his desk.

Botan clenched her fingers around the mug. She hadn't realized how cold her fingers were until they had made contact with the warm surface, "What I'm saying is, isn't coffee more of an early morning type drink?"

"For me, no. Besides, after the hair-raising experience you went through, you're going to want that to help bring you up to speed." Karasu responded, twirling a pen.

Botan's gaze drifted down to the steaming mug in front of her. Reflected in the black liquid, two tired-looking eyes stared back at her. Hair-raising, huh? Well, that was certainly one way of describing it. If given the choice, Botan would have opted to use the word 'terrifying'. She raised the mug to her lips and took a sip, scowling when the scalding liquid burned the tip of her tongue. A wry smile wound its way onto her lips. _More pain? _ She thought, _Of course, compared to the stigmas that now cover my body, a burnt tongue is nothing. _Then, a thought occurred to her. Setting the mug down on the desk, she looked at Karasu.

"Say, Karasu..." she ventured, playing with the fabric of her lab coat, "where did this coat come from? Is it yours? And what about my wounds, who took care of them?" Unfortunately, before Karasu could respond, more questions tumbled out of Botan's mouth- each one leading into the next, making a trail of inquiries. "Did anyone see us? What happened afterwards? What about Koenma, does he know? And Hiro, does he know what happened too? Subject 0119, what happened to-"

"Whoa there," Karasu said, holding up a hand, "slow down and take a breath before you pass out again. I'll try to answer as many of your-"

"I passed out?" Botan interrupted, voice rising a bit. She had passed out? As in eyes rolling back in the head, swooning and hitting the floor passing out? It certainly explained the gap in her memory. Didn't mean it frightened her any less. She didn't remember passing out. Hell, she barely remembered leaving Kurama's cage. The only things she clearly remembered were lying on the cold tile, staring at the pools of crimson as they grew beneath her and the terror that had begun to nibble away at her mind. If Karasu hadn't shown up... Botan shivered. She didn't want to finish that thought. The fact that she had passed out alone was enough to rattle her. That simple fact told her how traumatic her experience had been.

Meanwhile, Karasu gave the tech a flat look, then resumed speaking.

"At any rate," he continued, folding his hands in front of him on the desk, "to answer both your first and second questions, that coat you're wearing is a spare I found in a lab closet somewhere on this floor. I took care of your wounds; you'll be pleased to note that while some of the gashes were long, they were not deep and there will be no scarring. Thankfully, no one saw us-well, saw me carrying you that is- you passed out just as we got to the stairs. Koenma and Hiro have been notified and are on their way to discuss this matter with Toguro and myself."

At this, Botan nodded and folded her hands in her lap and pretended to find great interest in her thumbs. So they knew. They knew about her royal screw-up. Koenma would probably fire her on the spot for being so reckless. She had just proved herself to be the biggest liability in the entire lab.

From a world beyond her thoughts, a low voice made its presence known. Botan's head snapped up, azure ponytail bobbing as she did so.

"What? Sorry, I didn't catch that."

"I said it would be beneficial, highly so, if you were to be present during the discussion as well."

Botan blinked, "Why?"

"He attacked _you_; it was _your _life that was in danger. If anyone needs to be the deciding factor in this discussion, it's you."

Biting her lip, Botan lowered her gaze back down to her lap. She didn't know if she could handle the gravity of the situation. Kurama had attacked her, and while those words were still enough to send sub-zero chills down her spine, processing the consequences of what he had done would be enough to make her heart skip quite a few beats. Maybe even bring it to a complete stop. She didn't want Kurama to die, but was there any other choice? Surely there was a reason for what he had done, there had to be. Eyes still downcast, the tech sucked in a shaky breath and summoned the strength and courage to speak.

"Karasu?" she asked, voice and hands trembling, "why did Kurama attack me? I-I...I did nothing to provoke him." Peach skin and white cloth blurred together as hot tears welled up in Botan's eyes. She fought hard to keep them down. Chewing the inside of her lip, Botan tried to quell the quickly growing lump in the back of her throat. She took a couple quick breaths and continued.

"We were just talking, so why would he-"

"Your stubbornness knows no bounds it seems."

Her gaze jerked up from her semi-blurry lap. Splaying his hands on either side of the desk, Karasu stood up and walked around the desk to where she sat across from him. His long fingers curled around the arms of her chair and turned her towards him. Red rimmed eyes of candy pink watched the violet-eyed aide as he knelt down in front of her, placing one of her hands between his own. The soft warmth from his skin spread into hers, giving her pale fingers a light brush of pink.

"Botan, what I'm going to tell you is no different than what I've tried to tell you so many times before: Subject 0119 is a demon, a dangerous creature that toys with humans in much the same way a cat toys with a mouse. He's a being devoid of rhyme and reason, attacking you simply because he grew tired of playing with you and he decided to rid himself of an old toy," Karasu squeezed her hand and looked her right in the eye, "that's all you were to him Botan. An interesting toy that eventually became boring to play with."

Like a well-aimed sword thrust, his words pierced her heart. Out from the wound, sorrow flowed, staining her heart dark with grief. Black despair ate away at the edges of her soul smothering the already dimming light of hope. Just a toy? That was all she had been to him? Just something amusing to pass the time with? Clenching her free hand, Botan did not fight when she felt the tears course down her face. The tiny crystal drops fled down the length of her face, where they proceeded to be absorbed by her lab coat, much like the blood she had spilled back in Kurama's cage. She sniffed. It just wasn't fair. Why her? Why him? Why now? She felt Karasu give her hand another squeeze. In that moment, she felt the weak, fraying strands of strength that were wound around her emotional core snap and dissolve, never to return. Without a thought or a care, she surged forward, falling out of the chair and into Karasu's lap. She wrapped her arms around the bewildered aide, buried her head in his shoulder and cried. She cried for Kurama, a creature that had been a dear friend, now lost to her through his own devices. She cried for Koenma and Hiro because she knew that neither of them had ever wanted it to come to this; and she also cried for herself; sitting on Karasu, crying on his shoulder, Botan felt as if everything she had worked towards in the lab had come crashing down around her.

Karasu patted her back, stroking her ponytail as he did so. They stayed like that for a while, Botan smothering her tears in Karasu's shoulder and Karasu resting his cheek on her head and murmuring to her in soft, low tones. When she felt the last of her sobs start to fade, she pushed herself back and slid off the aide's lap, wiping her eyes.

"Sorry about that," she said, sniffling.

Karasu shook his head, "Don't be. After everything that's happened, you needed that temporary break down."

Botan nodded. She had to admit, she did feel somewhat better, as if a physical weight had been lifted from her shoulders- but only from her shoulders. The heavy stone of despair was still affixed to her heart-hanging by a thick chain that refused to break, threatening, at any moment, to drag it down into the deepest pit of darkness, to torture her with the sorrow of what she knew would come. Grunting, Karasu pushed himself up off the floor and extended a hand in her direction.

"I know you don't want to, but trust me, everything will work out," he said. Delicate lips curved upwards into a small smile, as his tender gaze caressed her battered emotions, "besides, I'm right here by your side."

A rush of warmth filled her heart, and Botan returned his smile with a beaming, hopeful one of her own. She took his hand and allowed to him to pull her up from the floor. Karasu. He was so kind. As she wrapped her hand around his offered arm, she wondered why Hiro had been so hostile towards Karasu earlier. He was gentle, caring, and sincere. Botan looked into violet eyes that had been searching hers for some time. Upon making eye contact, she smiled and laid her head on his shoulder. Whatever Hiro's suspicions had been, they were unfounded. Karasu had saved her life, had given her comfort when she needed it most-this man truly knew what was best.

* * *

Karasu smirked as he felt Botan snuggle into his shoulder. He'd gotten her. Hook, line, and sinker.

The loud bang of a door flying open and slamming back into the wall caused Hiro to leap at least a good foot into the air. Before he could even whip around to discover the perpetrator behind the door's violent opening, the person in question strode up to him, yanked him around, and proceeded to yell into his face.

"What the hell?! First off, why is she with Karasu? I thought I was very clear when I told you to keep her away from him! Second, you'd better have some theory as to why Subject 0119 went berserk, because I'm drawing a frigging blank right now! And third...why are you in my office?!"

Hiro blinked, unsure of which question he should answer first. After a few moments' indecision-in which a bright wave of fiery amber fury tried to burn him to a tiny crisp- the bewildered aide opted for the third question in hopes that the sound, logical answer would calm his superior.

"You asked me to meet you here, sir."

Now it was Koenma's turn to blink. Sighing, he released his vice-like grip on Hiro's shoulder and turned away. The aide watched as the co-director's son strode over to his desk and flopped in his chair, burying his head in his hands. Hiro felt a stab of sympathy tear through his heart. Not only had one of their most well-liked techs been hurt, one of their most promising demons had done a complete 180 degree flip. Couple that with the sudden, shocking turn the Phoenix Project was taking, and it could be said that things were going from bad to worse. No, scratch that. Things had sailed past worse, and now they were all headed for the rough waters of a snafu*. Koenma lifted his head from his hands and looked at Hiro with empty eyes.

"Any idea as to what the hell we do now?"

Hiro fidgeted with the sleeve of his lab coat, "Well, I think the first course of action would be to attend the meeting-"

"Yes, I meant beyond that!" Koenma snapped. Hiro flinched.

Koenma sighed and looked at the floor, "Sorry. I didn't meant to lash out like that."

"No, it's alright. I don't expect you to be all that calm."

"Still," Koenma said, "I could have handled that better."

A shroud of silence fell upon the two, thin, but cold; for by not speaking they enabled their thoughts to run towards their unconfirmed fears of what would await them after the meeting with Karasu and Toguro. Hiro suppressed a shudder. He had no doubt in his mind that Toguro would use this situation to his full advantage. The panic that would ensue from the spread of such news would be all the bastard would need to push his plans along the production line and stick quite a few people on the chopping block while he was at it; and Hiro was positive that he and Koenma would be the first to go. His gaze ran over Koenma's form- slumped forward in his chair, hands dangling between spread knees, eyes dark and downcast, Hiro could only imagine the mental turmoil that he was going through. The Assistant Director groaned and ran a hand through his hair.

"Damn it all," he growled, "my father left this project in my hands. I told him that everything would be fine under my control, that I would take care of the lab in his absence, and this is what I have to show for it? One of our best techs is hurt, and one of our most fruitful demons is about to be put on the sacrificial altar to be offered up to the god that is Toguro's ambition. Not to mention the fact that I let Toguro move well ahead of me and gain back more than enough control in terms of the Phoenix Project," a sigh of exasperation slipped past his lips, "and of course, let's not forget that Karasu probably has Botan on his and Toguro's s side of the field," his hand slipped from his hair and tried to shield his shame from the world, "maybe we should just throw in the towel right now."

Hiro's eyes widened, "Don't be stupid!" he shouted.

Koenma gave his aide a quizzical look. "What do you mean 'don't be stupid'? Toguro clearly has the advantage in this fight. I don't see what we could possibly do to prevent him from-"

"That's because you aren't thinking of everything." Hiro interrupted. He walked over to Koenma and stood before the distraught young man. Crossing his arms, he affixed his boss and friend with a stern gaze. "Look, I'll admit that you're right in saying that Toguro has an advantage, in fact he has many: power, influence, he's convincing and conniving, but that's no reason to give up. Your father entrusted you with both the lab and the Phoenix Project not just because he knew things would be okay in your hands, but also because he knew that if things ever went awry that you would fix them; and that's what Enma's counting on you to do right now. He knows things went south, that's already been acknowledged. The next step," here Hiro jabbed a finger at Koenma, "is to pick yourself up, dust off, and put on some boxing gloves, because you're going to be fighting Toguro with everything you've got, and I'll be damned if you lose!"

Koenma stared at Hiro for a moment. Then, a smile crept onto his face, followed by a string of stifled giggles. Soon, Libra's assistant director was bent over in his chair, laughing. Hiro cocked his head to the side. What was so funny? After a couple minutes, Koenma calmed down, and sat in the chair, wiping tears from his eyes while the occasional giggle sprung up. Once he had everything back under control he looked up at Hiro, still smiling.

"Boxing gloves, huh? I guess I need to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee and all that jazz? Well then, this is gonna be one hell of a prize fight." Koenma chuckled.

Hiro looked away, embarrassed, "That's...not exactly what I meant."

Koenma's smile softened. He rose from his chair and put a hand on Hiro's shoulder, "I know. And you're right. If I gave up now, I'd be turning my back not only on my father, but on everyone who believes in me and this lab," he balled his free hand into a fist, "and that includes Botan. If Toguro and Karasu think that I'm going to let her gravitate to their side without so much as lifting a finger, they've got another thing coming. The same goes for Subject 0119. I won't let him die on my watch, not when I can tell something's off. He's not the kind of demon who would just up and attack someone without reason, I'm sure of it."

Hiro nodded. Something was odd about that. Subject 0119 had been with Libra since he was young. He knew no other world than the sterile white walls of Libra, why would he turn into a savage beast all of the sudden? Way too out of character. The fox demon was quite intelligent. Hiro suspected if he had been entertaining any possibilities of escaping or getting revenge, it would be something far more subtle, if he were to entertain any at all-the chance of which was slim to none. The aide glanced at Koenma, who stood by his desk, rummaging through some papers.

"What are you doing?" Hiro asked.

Koenma didn't raise his eyes from the desk, "Looking for lab reports."

Hiro cocked his head. Then, it clicked.

On every single one of the lab reports was a behavioral chart. Protocol required that this chart be filled out both before, during, and after each experiment conducted. Attached to each report was an follow-up chart, recording any additional data during a "cool down" period. After conducting an experiment, the scientists at work on the Phoenix Project, gave the subjects a period of rest so that they could recuperate and be back to one hundred percent by the time the next one rolled around. Every single piece of data concerning the demons state of health, both physical and mental, was recorded. And it was just such a record that had been made of Subject 0119 prior to the attack on Botan. _A day or so prior if I'm not mistaken, _Hiro thought. Twenty-four hours. It might not make much of a difference, but it gave Hiro and Koenma a good leg to stand on. Might even save Subject 0119's life. At least, they could hope.

Koenma continued rifling through his desk drawer, shoving various papers aside and inspecting some more, looking for the telltale number. Finally, after a few more minutes of searching and muted curses, Koenma pulled three pieces of paper, joined together by a clip. As his eyes scanned further and further down the page, the young man's face began to glow. Licking a finger, he flipped up the first page, skimmed the second, and began going through the third. When he'd reached the bottom, he grinned and slapped the papers.

"This is what we're looking for, Hiro!" he exclaimed, a grin of triumph spreading across his face. Curious, and a bit excited, Hiro dashed over and took the papers from Koenma's hand. He flipped back the first two pages and dropped his eyes down to the bottom of the third of the page. There, written in Botan's neat, loopy pen, were the words;

_Subject is not experiencing any adverse effects to the earlier conducted experiment. All mental faculties and physical attributes show no signs of abnormality. Resume testing as normal._

Hiro smiled and handed the papers back to Koenma, who folded them and tucked them away in an inside pocket. The two men looked at each other.

"We ready?" Hiro asked, a hint of deviousness pricking his voice.

Koenma grinned, "I'd say so."

Without another word, the two strode towards the door and out into the hall.

* * *

Koenma narrowed his eyes at the gold-lettered plaque over the door before turning the knob and stepping in. He walked into the office, Hiro trailing close behind. Toguro sat at his desk, chin resting on folded hands. He didn't rise to greet them. Hiro shut the door behind him and observed the two powerful figures before him. Koenma stood before the desk, hands in his pockets. Neither of them spoke. Hiro remained by the door. The air in the room weighed on his chest, heavy and cold like a glacier. A clock against the far wall ticked off the passing minute. Toguro straightened up and placed his folded hands on his desk.

"Well? Are you going to say anything?"  
Koenma narrowed his eyes, "What should I say?" he spat, "should I say that you've been lying to us all along by keeping your true position secret? That you're a heartless man who thinks only of his own goals and to hell with everyone else? That you've been playing a deadly game of chess and used one of my techs as your pawn?"

Toguro smirked. "You've no proof."

"I do," Koenma said, "it's not much, but it's all the proof I need."

"Do you?" Toguro chuckled, "well, we'll see what she thinks."

Koenma frowned. A click from his right caught Hiro's attention, and he stepped back just in time to avoid being hit by the door. Up against the wood stood Karasu, holding it open for Botan, who stood in the doorway, looking timid. She raised her eyes from the floor once, but when she saw Koenma and Hiro standing there, she slapped her gaze back to the floor. She took small steps into Toguro's office, fiddling with her lab coat as she walked. Karasu strode in behind her, shutting the door as he did so, a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Hiro didn't miss the snide glance thrown his way. Koenma's aide bristled, but that was all.

Botan stopped before Toguro's desk, standing to the left of Koenma, eyes still downcast. Karasu stood off to her right, his gaze locked on Toguro no doubt waiting for orders. _Bastard, _Hiro thought, grinding his teeth. Koenma turned from his adversary and took Botan by the shoulders, shoving off Karasu's poison grip.

"Botan, thank goodness you're all right-"

"I wonder about that," Karasu murmured which earned him a growl from Hiro.

Koenma ignored the barb and continued, "Please, I need you to tell these men the truth, the truth about Subject 0119. You know him better than any of us."

"Yes Botan," Karasu purred, "tell us how Subject 0119 is a loathsome creature who attacked you out of nowhere for no reason whatsoever."

"Oh knock it off!" Hiro snarled, "The last thing anyone here needs is your two cents!"

Karasu shrugged, "I'm just stating the truth. Are you afraid of the truth Hiro?"

"You bastard! I'll give you something to-"

"Gentlemen," Toguro's voice cut through Hiro's angry would-be retort. Hiro glared down at Toguro, gnashing his teeth. His eyes spat rage. Meanwhile, Karasu just smirked, a quick flash of teeth declaring an unspoken challenge. Koenma regarded the two aides for a moment. Sure that his would not strike out at Toguro's, Koenma turned his attention back to his lab tech. Botan still fiddled with her lab coat. Her teeth worried her bottom lip, and she would glance up at Koenma every now and then, only to throw her gaze back to the carpet once she saw his eyes on her.

"Botan..." Koenma whispered.

Botan's breath hitched, "K-Koenma sir, I...I..."

"It doesn't matter what you trick her into saying," Toguro interrupted, "the truth still stands. She was attacked not only because of your naivete, but your negligence."

Whipping around, Koenma slammed his hands down on Toguro's desk, "Excuse me? My _naivete_? My _negligence_? In what way was I naive and negligent? care to explain yourself, Director of the Phoenix Project? Care to elaborate upon your words, oh true founder of Libra?" Koenma growled, letting each ice cold word hit Toguro straight in the face. The last four words of the assistant director's sentence made the man in question frown. He lowered his head and peered over his sunglasses at Koenma. Cold, gray eyes narrowed to snake-like slits.

"And, pray-tell how did you come by this information?"

Koenma smirked, "That's of no concern right now. The real reason we're here is to clear Subject 0119's name, not discuss power issues."

"You will give me an answer for this, Koenma," Toguro growled.

Koenma continued to smirk, "If there's anyone who's naive here, it's you for thinking that you wouldn't get tripped up in your own game, Toguro. You may have been playing it longer, but some of us are just better."

"So says the man who almost sacrificed his own lab tech to his favorite test subject."

"Okay, you know what? Fine!" Koenma snarled, "you want proof that 0119 isn't some deranged psychopathic manipulator? Here!" he slammed down the report, "here's your damned proof!"

Toguro picked up the paper and read it over. Koenma stuck his hands in his pockets. Finally! They had Toguro on the ropes! There was nothing he could say against the writing on the paper; he was caught and they both knew it. It would only be a matter of time before everything else unraveled as well. Feeling triumph swell in his chest, Koenma watched Toguro lay down the lab report and lace his fingers beneath his chin. He waited for the man's response of defeat.

"I'm sorry," Toguro said, "but what exactly is this supposed to prove?"

An icy beam of shock shot through Koenma's heart. Stunned, he blinked at Toguro.

"Wh-What..." Koenma stuttered.

Smirking, Toguro continued, "you know that data of this report was collected verbally, i.e. conveyed by the demon himself. He could have lied, in fact it stands to reason, that in light of recent events, he did lie," the living tower of muscle shrugged, "I'm sorry, but your lab report does about as much good as an umbrella in the middle of a hurricane."

The world dropped out from beneath Koenma's feet. That was it. This was the end. Subject 01119, Botan, his position, and even the lab itself whirled away from him. He'd lost. No matter how he looked at it, no matter which way he turned Toguro's comment, he couldn't find any flaw in it. It was sound logic. Why the hell had he not thought of that?! Wearing a snide smile, Toguro looked up at Enma's son.

"Do you have any other amusements to waste my time?"

Grinding his teeth, Koenma lowered his gaze to the floor. Impossible! He couldn't have failed!

"Well?"

Koenma squeezed his eyes shut. Hiro bit his lip and looked over at Botan. The lab tech stood in between him and Koenma, staring at the latter. Within her eyes glowed the cold light of fear. Hiro could sympathize. They had no leg left to stand on now. It was only a matter of time before Subject 0119 was terminated and the second phase of the Phoenix Project put well under way. Not to mention the fact that Hiro and Koenma would find themselves most likely out of the lab. As for Botan...

Then it clicked.

Botan was the only one who really knew what happened inside 0119's cage. If Hiro could get her input then maybe, just maybe they could win. Summoning up all his courage, Hiro turned to the tech.

"Botan."

The girl jumped. Her candy-pink slid gaze over to Koenma's aide. Upon eye contact she flinched back, but stood her ground. Hiro put a hand on her shoulder.

"Botan, no one here is blaming you. You're not at fault for any of this, but..." he trailed off, looking at Koenma. The man in question still stared at the floor, slumped and defeated. Hiro raised his voice a little, trying to bring his superior out from the darkness of his despair, "we need to know, because you're the only one who truly knows anything, what happened? Tell us in your own words what transpired, leave no detail out. We need to know everything. We can't make a clear decision," he said pegging both Karasu and Toguro with a pointed glare, "until we hear the events from the source; because right now what Toguro's saying might be nothing more than speculation."

"I'm sorry," Karasu interrupted, shoving himself between Botan and Hiro, "but would you like t try that one again? 'Nothing more than speculation?' I pulled her out of Subject 0119's cage myself. I saw firsthand what kind of state he was in," he leaned closer narrowing his eyes, "and I can tell you beyond the shadow of a doubt, that had I not intervened when I did, Botan would not be standing here right now." Karasu growled in a voice every bit as cold as a Siberian winter.

Quirking an eyebrow, Hiro remarked, "Oh yes, and then there's your timely intervention. It might just be me, but that whole things seems a little too Deus Ex Machina to me, what about you?"

Karasu huffed, but offered no response. Koenma, who'd been listening to the argument between to two assistant, turned towards Botan. Botan glanced between Hiro and Karasu as if unsure who she should take orders from. Feeling the weight of Toguro's burdensome gaze upon him Koenma tapped Botan on th shoulder. She whipped around.

"Koenma, sir I-"

"I know this might be hard for you," Koenma told her, "but Hiro's right. We need to know everything."

Botan stared back at him with frightened eyes.

"It's alright. Hiro and I are right here. You don't have to worry. Just tell us as best you can. We'll help you."

"Ignore him!" Karasu snapped, "I was there with you, I saw what happened. You can trust me Botan, I haven't led you astray. Everything I've said so far has been true, has it not? Hiro and Koenma lied to you. I tried to protect you. Trust my words Botan, because without the actions of those two men who coddled you, you never would have been hurt."

Botan looked left, than right, back and forth between Koenma and Karasu. Unsure of who to believe, she closed her eyes. They were right, both of them were, but who was more right? Koenma? He had a point, they did need to know. And what was it Hiro said? Something about not being able to make a clear, informed decision without her input, well that was correct too. She needed to speak, to remember everything correctly, everything about the attack. The attack that had she just listened to Karasu never would have happened in the first place. If she'd taken his advice instead of being stubborn, none of this would have happened. He'd even saved her life for crying out loud!, was she really just going to betray his kindness like that? Sighing, Botan raised her head, but before she could speak, she heard Hiro's voice.

"Karasu may have a point, but what's more reliable, what can you put your trust into more? His words, or your own experiences? Karasu says what he says because he's never been around Subject 0119 so he just assumed he's like all of the other test subjects here. You know differently. You've seen with your own eyes how each individual test subject behaves, Subject 0119 especially. Let's say for argument's sake that Karasu may, on the off chance be right, you're an intuitive person. I know that and you know that. If your instincts haven't lied to you before, why would they now? Think. Think back through everything you experienced with Subject 0119 up to this point. Was there any time you ever doubted him?"

Every time she'd spent with him? Botan replayed it all: the conversations, the laughter, her crying in his arms, how he'd helped her get out of the lab the first night they'd met. He hadn't laughed, nor did he shove her out of his cage, rather he'd felt sorry for her and helped to find a way out for her that wouldn't scare her more. Even from the beginning he'd cared for her. In fact even during the attack, he'd been trying to hold himself back, demanding that she leave, that she get out and get to safety. No, Kurama had never had any ill intentions towards her.

Swallowing a gathering lump in her throat, Botan shook her head, "No...he didn't..." she began, but her voice was too choked. She took a deep breath, then continued, "No, he didn't attack me out of malice. The whole time, even before he started acting strange, he'd told me to leave. He knew something was wrong and he didn't want me to get hurt. Even when he was scared and hurting, he thought of me, of helping me like he always has," Botan sniffed and lifted her head, looking right at Hiro, "Kurama, Subject 0119 is not evil, nor is he manipulative. Something was wrong with him, something even he couldn't figure out. He wanted me to leave before it got any worse. I..."she clenched the collar of her lab coat in a shaking fist, "I was just to foolish to listen."

"Alright, but how do you explain-"

"Something was wrong with him? What do you mean?" Koenma asked, interrupting Karasu.

Botan shrugged, "I don't know. I don't even think he knew. One minute everything's fine, the next Kurama's clutching his arm and doubled over in pain. Speaking of which, he had this strange bruise on his arm. He said he didn't know where it came from. I don't think it was from a prior experiment."

Glancing over at Toguro and Karasu, Koenma fought the urge to smirk when he noticed how pale the aide had become. "What did it look like?" he asked, enjoying the palpable tension.

"Well," the bluenette tapped her chin with a finger, "it was kind of round, normal purple-green color, with this odd red tint in the center, which was raised a bit. I think. Is that important?"

"Yes," Koenma said with a nod, "oh yes it is."

"Oh please, that could have been the result from a recent experiment." scoffed Karasu, rolling his eyes.

"And how do you know how the experiments on Subject 0119 are conducted? Neither you or Toguro are allowed to run any tests on him. Enma specifically left 0119 to Koenma, and _that _order can never be changed." Hiro shot back.

Narrowing his eyes, Karasu spat "I'm just placing forth an assumption."

"Oh?" Hiro said, "well I'm just stating a fact."

"That's enough." Toguro growled, "you two bicker back and forth all you like, but we still have a decision to make. Botan, since you now seem to be the figure of authority here, what with you being not only present from beginning to end of the incident, but the one who was attacked, the decision rests with you. How should Subject 0119 be dealt with?"

Feeling the weight of everyone's gaze upon her, she looked at Toguro head on. Koenma and Hiro seemed focused on the unexplained bruise on Kurama's arm. Did this man have something to do with it? He very well could have. And Karasu? Although some small part of her still balked at the idea of her turning against him after he'd saved her life, now that Hiro had mentioned it, she had to admit that his timing in coming to save her seemed a little too convenient. Couple that with the fact that he'd been leaving the corridor right as she'd been on her way there, his actions were starting to raise some flags. Besides, Hiro was right, her instincts had never lied to her before. Kurama was innocent. That she knew.

"Don't terminate him. Subject 0119's behavior was abnormal for as of yet unidentified reasons. As far as I know, he's never done anything to compromise his situation here at Libra, so why would he start now? I say we look into what happened, but above everything else, we shouldn't kill him."

Removing his sunglasses, Toguro polished them on his lab coat, "Is that what you truly believe?"

Botan nodded.

"Well then," he slipped his shades back on, "in that case we've no choice. Subject 0119 will not be terminated. You may go," he directed the last three words at Botan, Koenma, and Hiro. Koenma frowned. Botan and Hiro exchanged smiles and walked out of Toguro's office while Karasu seethed. Koenma stayed behind. Toguro raised an eyebrow.

"Something else you wanted to say?"

Koenma regarded the man for a moment. Toguro had something to do with this. He and Karasu both; and given the statement of Botan's remark, he had a pretty good idea of how the attack had come about.

"Just one thing."

"Oh?"

"You seem awfully anxious to get rid of Subject 0119," he turned his gaze on Karasu as well, "both of you. And while I'm not sure exactly how you had your hands in this, I'm certain you were involved in the attack on Botan. After all," Koenma folded his arms over his chest, "you don't seem like a stranger to orchestrated mishaps Toguro."

Toguro cocked his head, "It seems to me you're hinting at some outrageous things Koenma," he peered over his sunglasses once more, as if initiating a challenge, "things which you know nothing about."

"You're right." Koenma said, turning and walking out of Toguro's office. However, once in the doorframe, he stopped. "One more thing," he said, still facing the hall.

"Something else?" was the annoyed reply.

"My father's on the mend. The way I see it, you don't have much time left," he looked over his shoulder, flashing a toothy grin, "you'd better decide what you're going to do, and if I were you, it would be along the lines of leaving Libra."

"You're in no position to make threats, underling. This moment of victory you're experiencing will be short-lived." the director snarled.

"We'll see." And with that, Koenma strode off, shutting the door behind him.

For the longest time, neither of the remaining men spoke. Toguro stared at his desk while Karasu glared at the closed door. After four minutes of silence, Karasu spoke.

"Now what? Why did you let them win?"

"Did I have a choice? By getting through to Botan, Hiro had sealed his and Koenma's victory. While my statement with the lab report may have been sound logic, Hiro's comments were hard to argue against as well. Besides, it's just a minor setback.

Minor setback?" Karasu echoed, whirling on his superior, "this is a major setback!"

"It wouldn't have had to be if someone had been far more subtle." Toguro said, voice dropping to sub-zero temperatures. Karasu found himself taking an involuntary step back. Toguro was right. Injecting 0119 with a mixture of adrenaline and a will-suppressing drug hadn't been the most low-hey of plans but it had gotten the job done...or so he'd thought.

"Relax," Toguro told him. "if anything, this works in our favor."

Frowning, Karasu asked, "How so?"

Leaning back, Toguro responded, "I'm sure by now the rest of the lab is well aware of the state 0119 is in. You made sure to inform the security team of his...'outburst', correct?"

Karasu nodded.

"Good. That action alone will have spread the news throughout Libra. I'm sure that everyone else will be quite on edge. 'If 0119 has gone berserk' they're saying, 'then what about the rest of the demons?' There's no way they can be trusted. We'll have to terminate the rest of them for our own safety.' You see Karasu, now that the rest of the lab has become frightened of the demons once again, there won't be much of a problem moving onto the second phase of the Phoenix Project. The ultimatum will be either to allow themselves to be tested for compatibility to the Genesis Pods, or to continue working with dangerous and unpredictable specimens. Their choice will be obvious."

"And what of Enma?"

Toguro shrugged, "I'm not too concerned,. Even if he does make a full recovery, it's going to be too little, too late. Oh, and Karasu, I have a feeling you've picked out one of my first test subjects?"

"Yes," Karasu nodded once more, "unfortunately you saw what happened."

"Don't let that discourage you. Above all things a scientist is determined. This time I'm giving you the green light. Obtain her for testing by any means necessary. Let nothing stand in your way."

"Of course not sir."

* * *

A cold floor, darkness, and an incessant pounding inside his skull. That last sensation succeeded in bringing him around. Blinking, Kurama pushed himself up from the floor, wincing. Every movement made his head hurt worse. After getting himself situated into a sitting position, Kurama looked around. Why was it so dark? It had never been this dark before. Kurama put a hand to his mouth to stifle a yawn. The moment the still air in the room hit the roof of his mouth his heart skipped a beat.

The scent of blood.

While not fresh, just the smell alone was enough to bring the memory crashing down upon him. He'd attacked Botan. He'd woken up , discovered an odd contusion on his arm, been stricken by pain, and attacked Botan. The last thing he remembered was hearing an unfamiliar voice before he'd been struck on the head. After that everything had gone black. Someone had gotten her out of his cage before he'd done any significant damage...but what happened afterwards? Kurama glanced towards the doors leading out to the balcony and gasped. They had been sealed over with some kind of metal. Kurama glanced back to the font of his cage. That meant the entrance was locked up tight too. He must have been hit pretty hard, not to mention drugged while unconscious for the activity not to have awoken him.

Not wanting to believe that what he was experiencing was real, Kurama walked up to the door of his cage and jiggled the knob. Nothing. not even so much as a slight twist. Ignoring the banging inside his head, he walked over and pounded on the metal stretched across the balcony doors. Heavy, solid, and sturdy, he wouldn't be breaking through that any time soon.

_ I'm...I'm really sealed up in here. I'm just like the rest of them now, not trusted, only feared; viewed only as an unpredictable monster. _Dropping to his knees, Kurama put a hand to his face, trying to fight his growing despair.

_Botan... Living within these cold halls for almost all my life, knowing nothing but harsh experiments day in and day out, I only saw myself as a test subject...until I met you. I finally had something to look forward to. I'm sorry. I wish we could have stayed friends_

* * *

**I originally intended for ten to be the last chapter, but then I remembered how important sleep is to a successful college career. Oh, two new things! 1) I hav account (spaces in case the website freaked out and deleted it), if you wouldn't mind, go ahead look me up if you want. You can find me under TheRavensApprentice. 2) I Thanks to a kind individual's suggestion on FFnet's sister site, I have a story published to Amazon's Kindle site. If you're interested you can find it under "Consequences" by Devon Smith. I'd be pleased to receive any feedback. **_. _


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